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“OH, JANET! WHY DID YOU HIDE IN THE TRUNK?” ASKED 

HRS. MARTIN. 

“The Curlytops in the Woods.” 


Page 101 











































THE CURLYTOPS 

IN THE WOODS 

OR 

Fun at the Lumber Camp 



HOWARD R. GARIS 


h 

Author of “The Curlytops at Cherry Farm,” 
“The Curlytops and Their Playmates," 
“Uncle Wiggily Stories," Etc. 


Illustrations by 
JULIA GREENE 


NEW YORK 

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY 


THE CURLYTOPS SERIES 

By HOWARD R. GARIS 

i2mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 


THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM 
Or, Vacation Days in the Country 
THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND 
Or, Camping Out With Grandpa 
THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN 

Or, Grand Fun With Skates and Sleds 
THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK'S 
RANCH 

Or, Little Folks on Ponyback 
THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE 
Or, On the Water With Uncle Ben 
THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS 
Or, Uncle Toby's Strange Collection 
THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAY¬ 
MATES 

Or, Jolly Times Through the Holidays 
THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS 
Or, Fun at the Lumber Camp 


CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, New York 


Copyright, 1923, by 
Cupples & Leon Company 


The Curlytops in the Woods 


Printed in U. S. A. 


JUN 25 1923 



©Cl A7 52531 








CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I 

Plating House . . 

II 

The Missing Diamond 

III 

The Lost Crow . 

TV 

Trouble’s Squirrel . 

V 

Off to Mt. Major 

VI 

The Hat Wagon . 

VII 

At the Farmhouse . 

VIII 

Fun in the Attic . . 

IX 

Down the Hill . 

X 

In the Woods . 

XI 

Trouble in the Store 

XII 

Ted is Caught . . . 

XIII 

Alone in the Woods . 

XIV 

A Strange Crt . . 





Contents 


CHAPTER PAGE 


XV 

The Lonely Cabin . . 

. 171 

XVI 

The Trick Crow . . . 

. 183 

XVII 

The Sawdust Fere . . 

. 196 

XVIII 

Trouble Has a Ride . . 

. 210 

XIX 

The Curlytops Adrift . 

. 222 

XX 

The Crow’s Nest . . . 

. 234 



THE CURLYTOPS 
IN THE WOODS 


CHAPTER I 

PLAYING HOUSE 

i t Trouble ! Trouble! Look out! Y ou ’re 
knocking over the piano!” Janet Martin 
called this to her little brother William, 
who, because of the mischief he so often got 
in, was nicknamed “Trouble.” 

i ‘Where’s piano I knock over?” asked 
Trouble, who was still small enough not to 
be expected to talk quite properly. “I 
didn’t was knock over any piano,” he added. 

“There! You’ve knocked it over now!” 
cried Janet, with a wail of despair, as a 
small box, which Trouble kicked with his 
chubby foot, fell down the steps of the back 
porch. “You knocked over the piano.” 

“Oh!” exclaimed Trouble soberly, as he 
watched his brother Ted bringing other 
boxes to pile on the porch where the children 
were playing house that pleasant summer 
afternoon. * 6 Oh, my! I knock over piano , 9 9 


2 The Curly tops in the Woods 

went on William, still very grave and seri¬ 
ous. 4 6 Zat’s funny piano, ’’ he added. “ It’s 
only a hox!” 

“Well, we’re pretending it’s a piano, 
remarked Janet, as she picked the box up 
from the ground where it had tumbled after 
Trouble accidentally kicked it. “You have 
to pretend when you’re playing house,” she 
added. 

“What’s Trouble done now?” asked Ted, 
as he put one of his boxes on the porch and 
the other down on the ground near the steps. 
“That’s the garage for our automobile,” he 
said, pointing to the box on the ground. 

“Oh, that’ll be nice!” exclaimed Janet. 
“I didn’t know we were going to have an 
auto. This is a lovely playhouse!” she said, 
laughing. 

Ted and Janet often played house in this 
way, setting up a sort of one-floor apart¬ 
ment on the back porch, with different 
rooms marked off by sticks laid on the floor 
of the porch. In each of these “rooms” 
were put different pieces of furniture. Most 
of the furniture was just boxes, or perhaps 
an old broken chair or two, or even some 
sticks and boards. But to the Curlytops the 
playhouse was very real. Only Trouble 



Playing House 


3 


could not “pretend’’ as well as could his 
older brother and sister. Ted liked to play 
house with Janet, even if he was a boy. 

“What’s that other box for?” asked 
Janet of Ted, when she had made Trouble 
sit down on a small, broken doll’s chair in 
what was the “kitchen” of the playhouse. 

“That’s going to be the cupboard,” an¬ 
swered Ted. “And we can-” 

“Old Mother Hubbard went to her dog’s 
cupboard!” sang Trouble. 

“It wasn’t her dog’s cupboard, it was her 
own,” corrected Janet. 

“Yes it was dog’s cupboard,” insisted 
Trouble. “ ’Cause she went there to get him 
a bone, but it was bare. Does it mean the 
bone didn’t have any clothes on?” asked 
Trouble of his brother. 

“Of course not!” laughed Ted. “Bones 
don’t wear clothes. It means the cupboard 
was bare—it didn’t have even a bone in it 
for the dog.” 

“Well, it was dog’s cupboard all right!” 
still insisted the little boy. “You goin’ have 
Mother Hubbard’s cupboard here?” he 
asked. 

“No, this is going to be our own cup¬ 
board,” answered Ted, as he set up the other 



4 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


box be bad carried out from tbe barn. “And 
we’ll bave real things to eat to put in our 
cupboard, too,” be added. 

“No! Not reallyV 7 cried Janet, with 
shining eyes. 

“Really and truly,” insisted Teddy. 
“Look, mother said I could take these cook¬ 
ies,” and he pulled half a dozen or more 
from his pocket. 

“Oh, we’ll have a lovely playhouse!” ex¬ 
claimed Janet. “I’ll make believe I’m the 
cook, and you must go to work, Ted, and 
come home and I’ll have your supper ready 
and I’ll dress up as mother does when daddy 
comes home to supper.” 

“All right,” agreed Ted. “Do you know 
where I work, Jan?” 

“No,” she answered. 

“I’m conductor on an airship!” laughed 
Teddy. “I’ll climb up in a tree and make 
believe that’s an airship.” 

“This is more fun than we ever had be¬ 
fore!” cried Janet. “Oh, Trouble, you 
mustn’t go in there!” she added, as she saw 
her small brother picking his way over the 
sticks that were laid down in squares to 
mark off the different rooms. 

“Not go here ?” questioned Trouble, paii*- 



Playing House 


5 


ing with one foot in one room, and the other 
in another apartment. 

“No, you mustn’t go in there!” insisted 
Janet. ‘ ‘ That’s the parlor and your feet are 
all dirty. You can’t go in the parlor with 
dirty shoes!” 

“All right,” agreed Trouble. “Could I 
have cookie from pantry?” he asked, watch¬ 
ing Ted set up the box and put in it some 
of the good things from the real kitchen. 

“Yes, you can have a cookie when I get 
Ted’s dinner,” agreed Janet. “Now you 
go out and play in the yard, and when you 
hear the whistle blow that will mean Daddy 
Ted is coming home, and you must come in 
and eat with us.” 

“Can I eat real—have some cookie?” 
asked Trouble. 

“Yes, we’ll let you eat real,” laughed 
Janet. “But don’t knock over the piano 
again,” she begged, as she again set up the 
box that Trouble had sent toppling down 
the steps. 

“I not knock over no more,” he promised. 

“Here, you make believe you’re a miner 
digging for gold,” suggested Ted, giving his 
small brother a shovel and pointing to a soft 
place in the dirt of the yard. “And when 



6 The Curly tops in the Woods 

I go ‘Toot! Toot!’ that means it’s the twelve 
o’clock whistle and you stop work.” 

“An’ then we eat!” cried Trouble. 

“Yes, then we eat,” agreed Ted. “Now 
I’m going to be a conductor in my airship,” 
he added, as he climbed into the branches of 
a tree near the back porch. Trouble began 
digging with his shovel in the soft dirt, and 
Janet arranged the different rooms of the 
playhouse to suit her own ideas, placing a 
bunch of leaves on the “piano” as an orna¬ 
ment. 

‘ ‘ Janet! Janet! Oh, Jan! ” suddenly cried 
Trouble, after a few minutes of digging. 

“What’s the matter now?” asked his sis¬ 
ter, as her small brother looked up from his 
digging. “Did you hurt yourself?” 

“No, but I is not goin’ to be miner an’ 
dig for gold,” he declared. 

“What are you going to be then?” Ted 
wanted to know. 

“I be fisherman diggin’ for worms,” de¬ 
cided Trouble. “ ’At’s most fun ’cause I 
got a worm right now.” 

“All right, be a fisherman and dig for 
worms,” agreed Janet. “Don’t let him spoil 
anything in the playhouse,” she called to 



Playing House 


7 


Teddy up in the tree. “I’m going to ask 
mother something.” 

‘ 4 All right, ’ ’ replied Ted. “ Are you going 
after more cookies?” 

“No, I’m going to see if mother will let 
me take her little diamond locket,” answered 
Janet. “I mean the one with the teeny little 
diamond in. I want to wear it when I dress 
up and make believe I’m a lady getting my 
husband’s supper.” 

“Oh, all right,” laughed Ted. “But I 
don’t believe mother will let you take her 
diamond locket.” 

“I guess she will if I promise to be careful 
of it,” said Janet. 

She went into the house, while Ted con¬ 
tinued to play that he was a conductor on an 
airship, taking up tickets from the make- 
believe passengers. Trouble kept on dig¬ 
ging worms, carefully putting them in a tin 
can. 

Janet found her mother out in the front 
yard, talking to Mrs. Jenk, a neighbor, and 
both ladies were laughing. 

“What are you laughing at?” asked 
Janet, before she asked to be allowed to wear 
the diamond ornament. 

“It’s Mr. Jenk’s tame crow,” answered 



8 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


Mrs. Martin. “He really is so funny! He 
ought to be in a show. Look at him!” 

She pointed to the open window of Mrs. 
Jenk’s house, where, on the sill, was perched 
a black crow. This crow had been caught by 
Mr. Jenk in the woods some years before. 
He had tamed the bird, which was lame from 
having been injured in a trap, and now it 
could do quite a number of tricks, besides 
saying a few words, or what sounded like 
words. The lame, tame crow could also 
whistle, often fooling Skyrocket, the Curly- 
tops’ dog. 

Just now the crow was marching up and 
down on the window sill, going limpity-limp, 
for one leg was shorter than the other. Sud¬ 
denly Mrs. Jenk tapped on the fence with 
a stick, and, at the same time, she snapped 
her fingers. 

Instantly the lame, tame crow stood on his 
good leg, cocked his head to one side and 
stuck his short, lame leg out to one side, 
standing in this funny position as stiff and 
motionless as a stuffed bird. Then, sud¬ 
denly, he made several popping sounds like 
corks being pulled from bottles. 

“Oh, isn’t he funny!” laughed Janet, 
4 ‘He ought to be in a show!” 



Playing House 


9 


“Yes, Mr. Jenk had an offer from a 
theatrical man who wanted to put Jim in 
a show,” said Mrs. Jenk. “This man said 
our crow was quite valuable, but Mr. Jenk 
didn’t want to let him go. He says he is 
going to teach Jim more tricks.” 

“Oh, I hope he does!” cried Janet. The 
crow stood on two legs again, and once more 
marched up and down the window sill. 4 4 Do 
you think I could make him stand that 
funny way and pop?” asked Janet. 

“Try it,” suggested Mrs. Jenk. 

The little girl tapped on the fence and 
snapped her fingers. 

Instantly Jim stiffened, cocked his head 
on one side, stuck out his lame leg and stood 
on the other, stiff and motionless. Then he 
went: 

“Pop! Pop! Pop!” 

44 Oh, I did it! I did it!” laughed Janet, 
as Mrs. Jenk went in the house. “I’m going 
to do it again.” 

But this time the crow did no tricks. Per¬ 
haps he was tired of showing off. At any 
rate he flew into a tree over in the yard 
back of the home of the Curlytops. Jim was 
allowed to fly about as he pleased, and was 
well known in the neighborhood. He always 



10 The Curlytops in the Woods 

flew home at night, though, and slept in the 
kitchen. 

“Oh, Mother!” called Janet, as she saw 
Mrs. Martin turning to go in the house. 
“Could I take your little diamond locket? 
Not the big one, just the little teeny one.” 

Mrs. Martin had two diamond lockets, one 
a very expensive one, and the other not so 
valuable. This small one had been given 
to her by her husband when the Martins did 
not have as much money as they had now. 
And for this reason Janet’s mother thought 
more of her small ornament than she did 
of her more costly one. 

“I just want to wear it playing house on 
the back porch,” Janet went on. 

“Will you be very careful of it and bring 
it hack to me as soon as you have finished 
playing?” asked Mrs. Martin. 

“Oh, yes,” promised the little girl. “I’ll 
be ever so careful, and I won’t let Trouble 
or Ted have it.” 

“Well, Ted would be all right,” said Mrs. 
Martin. “But Trouble might drop it and 
step on it. I’ll let you take it for a half hour 
or so.” 

She took the locket, with its tiny diamond, 
from her jewelry box, and gave it into the 



Playing House 


11 


eager hands of Janet. The little girl’s eyes 
sparkled like twin diamonds as she clasped 
the ornament about her neck. 

“Now be careful of it!” cautioned her 
mother, as Janet went back to play house 
with Ted and Trouble. 

“I will!” the little girl promised. 

Ted was getting down out of the tree when 
Janet reached the porch, and Trouble was 
digging in a new place for worms. 

“You were gone a long time,” said Ted. 
“I blew the whistle three times. I got to 
have my dinner,” he went on, “ ’cause the 
ship’s got to sail to China right away soon.” 

“Oh, all right, I’ll get your dinner quick,” 
offered Janet, pretending to be serious. “I 
just stopped a minute to look at the tame 
crow,” she said. “He stood on one leg for 
me.” 

“He’s done it for me, too,” said Ted. 

“And he could be in a show if he wanted 
to, only Mr. Jenk won’t sell him,’’ added 
J anet. 

“Maybe we could get up a circus and have 
him in one of the acts,” suggested Ted. 
“Oh, mother let you take the diamond, 
didn’t she ?” he asked, as he saw the sparkle 
on Janet’s neck. 



12 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


“Yes, I can wear it while we play house,” 
she answered. “Now I’ll get dinner. Did 
you blow the whistle for Trouble to come?” 
she asked. 

‘ 4 Yes, I did. But he says he’s a fisherman, 
and fishermen only come when a horn blows, 
so I got to blow a horn,” laughed Ted. 

“Honk! Honk,” he went, pretending to 
be a horn. Then Trouble dropped his shovel 
and hurried to the “house” to get some of 
the cookies before his brother and sister 
might eat them all. 

The children sat on some little chairs that 
had once been a doll’s furniture set belong¬ 
ing to Janet, and they ate bits of cookies off 
a box that formed the “dining-room table.” 

“We’re having lots of fun!” said Janet. 

“Piles of it!” agreed Ted. 

“I likes it lots,” declared Trouble. 
“What you takin’ off ma’s diamond for?” 
he asked Janet, for she was unclasping the 
locket from her neck. 

“I have to wash the dishes,” she answered, 
“and you never wash dishes with a diamond 
locket on.” 

“Let me see locket!” begged Trouble, as 
Janet was about to lay it on the box that 
served as the cupboard. 



Playing House 


13 


“Be very careful of it!” cautioned Janet. 
She let her small brother take the sparkling 
ornament in his hand and admire it for a 
few moments. Then Janet took it again and 
put it on the box. She was preparing to 
“wash the dishes,” which was only make- 
believe, of course; Trouble was again dig¬ 
ging in his hole; Ted was up in the tree, 
pretending to be an airship conductor; when 
suddenly there sounded a loud crash in front 
of the house. 

“Something’s happened!” exclaimed 
Janet. 

“I go see!” offered Trouble, dropping his 
shovel. 

“It’s an automobile smash-up!” shouted 
Ted. 4 4 1 can see it from here! ’ ’ and he began 
to scramble down from the tree. 4 4 Two cars 
are smashed up!” he went on. 

The two Curlytops and Trouble hurried 
to the front gate, anxious to see what had 
happened. 



CHAPTER II 


THE MISSING DIAMOND 

Three or four men, half a dozen boys and 
a policeman were running toward the two 
automobiles that, as Ted had said, were in 
a “smash-up.’’ The accident had happened 
directly in front of the home of the Curly- 
tops, and they were anxious to know if any¬ 
one had been hurt. They also wanted to 
know how it had happened. 

“My, that one car is all smashed!” cried 
J anet. 

“They’re both smashed!” said Ted. 

“It’s like when my toy train ran into the 
stove!” said Trouble, trying to wiggle his 
way between his brother and sister so that 
he might first get out of the front gate and 
nearer to the scene of the accident. 

Just then Skyrocket, the Curlytops’ dog, 
came rushing, barking, out of the house. 
He, too, had heard the excitement. 

14 


The Missing Diamond 


15 


“Look out, Trouble! Look out!” cried 
Janet, as she saw what was about to happen. 
But it was too late. Skyrocket tried to dash 
between the legs of little William, but the 
opening was not wide enough, and Trouble 
stumbled and fell in a heap on the dog. 

Dog and boy howled together, though 
neither of them was much hurt. At the 
same time Janet saw the policeman lift a 
man from one of the wrecked cars. 

“Oh, I guess they’ll have to take him to 
the hospital!” she exclaimed. 

“Maybe,” agreed Ted, as he stopped to 
pick Trouble up, finding that his small 
brother was more frightened than hurt. 

Then the three Martin children proceeded 
on out into the street to look at the accident, 
about which had gathered a crowd of men 
and boys, with a few girls and women. 

And while the policeman is trying to find 
out how it all happened, and look after the 
two injured men—for there were two—this 
will be a chance to let my new readers know 
a little something about the Curlytops—who 
they were, where they lived, and what they 
had done up to this time. I will not take 
very long in telling it, as I think you want 
to keep on with the story part. 



16 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


Ted, or Teddy, whose real name was 
Theodore, and Janet, or “Jan,” as she was 
called for short, were the children of Mr. 
and Mrs. Richard Martin, who owned a 
large store in Cresco, in an eastern state. 
Because of their ringlets of golden hair, Ted 
and Janet were called Curlytops, and under 
that name I have written several books 
about them. The first volume is called ‘ 6 The 
Curlytops at Cherry Farm,” and while 
there the children, including small Wil¬ 
liam Anthony Martin, otherwise known as 
“Trouble,” had many adventures. 

Following that the Curlytops went to Star 
Island, they were snowed in, they visited at 
Uncle Frank’s ranch, and spent a vacation 
at Silver Lake. Then they helped take care 
of some animal pets belonging to Uncle 
Toby, and just before the present story I 
told of the adventures of Ted, Janet and 
Trouble in the book named “The Curlytops 
and Their Playmates.” 

The Curlytops—and I include Trouble 
with them, though his hair did not curl as 
did that of Ted and Janet—were always 
playing and having adventures, just as you 
have read about them starting to play house 
in this book. 



The Missing Diamond 


17 


As I have mentioned, Trouble was always 
in mischief of some sort or other, and often 
it might not be his fault—it was more of an 
accident, as when Skyrocket the dog tried 
to run between the legs of the little fellow. 

For a time all was forgotten about play¬ 
ing house. Janet gave no more heed to 
being dressed like a lady to get Daddy Ted’s 
supper. Ted forgot all about playing con¬ 
ductor in the tree airship, and while Trouble 
was with his brother and sister looking at 
the auto accident, all the worms he had dug 
crawled out of the shallow can into which 
he had put them, and away they wiggled. 

The accident was rather a serious one. 
Two cars had come together with a loud 
crash right in front of the Curlytops’ house, 
and both were badly damaged. The driver 
of each one was hurt and Policeman Kelly 
had to call the ambulance to take them both 
to the hospital. 

“How did it happen?” asked Ted of 
Harry Kent, one of his chums. 

“I didn’t see it,” Harry answered; “but 
I heard a man say one car tried to turn the 
corner and the man in it didn’t put his hand 
out.” 

“You ought always to put your hand out 



18 The Curly tops in the Woods 

when you’re going to turn a corner,” said 
Ted. 

“Sure you ought,” agreed Harry. “I 
guess he’ll do it after this.” 

“Here comes the ambulance!” cried 
Janet, as a loudly clanging bell was heard 
down the street. Up dashed the vehicle and 
soon the doctor was attending to the two 
men, who had been laid on the grass near 
the curb. 

After putting some bandages on the in¬ 
jured men the doctor had some bystanders 
help him lift them into the ambulance and 
away they were taken, leaving the two 
smashed cars for the crowd to stare at. 

The Curlytops met many of their friends 
at the accident, for boys and girls, hearing 
of it, came from the near-by houses. And 
Ted, Janet and Trouble knew most of the 
girls and boys for several blocks around. 

The excitement of the accident drove all 
thoughts of playing house from the minds 
of the Curlytops and they remained out in 
front of their house so long, talking with 
their playmates, that it was time for Mr. 
Martin to come home from the store for sup¬ 
per before Ted and Janet thought of what 
they had been doing. Mrs. Martin had also 



The Missing Diamond 


19 


come out to look at the wrecked automobiles, 
but had gone inside again, to tell the cook 
about the meal. 

“Well, Curlytops, did you do this?” 
asked Daddy Martin, with a laugh, as he 
stopped in front of his house to watch men 
from a garage starting to take away the 
wrecked cars. “I suppose Trouble did the 
most of it,” added Mr. Martin. 

“I not mash those autos!” cried Trouble, 
evidently thinking his father was in earnest. 
“They did mash up theirselves!” 

“And a pretty good piece of work they 
made of it,” said Mr. Martin. “Anyone 
hurt, Curlytops?” he asked. 

“The two drivers,” said Ted. 

There was a rustling in the tree under 
which the children stood talking with their 
father, and, looking up, Janet cried: 

“It’s Jim, Mr. Jenk’s crow!” 

“He’s flying home,” added Ted 

“Well, what have you been doing all day, 
children ?” asked Mr. Martin. ‘ ‘Don’t take 
that, Trouble!” he quickly cried, as the little 
boy pulled some papers from the side pocket 
of his father’s coat. “I need those. I’ll 
have to use them if I go to Mount Major to 
open a store for the lumber camp.” 



20 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“Oh, are you going away?” cried Janet. 

“For a while, maybe,” her father an¬ 
swered, as he looked to make sure Trouble 
had taken none of his papers. 

“When are you going?” asked Ted. 
“Mount Major is where they cut lumber, 
isn’t it, Dad?” 

“Yes, they cut a great deal of lumber 
there,” said Mr. Martin, as he watched the 
lame, tame crow of his neighbor fly down 
into a tree in Mr. Jenk’s yard. “And they 
are starting work for the summer now, fell¬ 
ing a lot of trees to get ready to saw up into 
lumber this fall. They want me to go up 
there and start a store, so the lumbermen 
may be able to buy things to eat without 
having to travel so far.” 

“Are you going?” asked Janet. 

“When?” inquired Ted once more. 

“Oh, it’s too early to talk about that 
now,” laughed Mr. Martin. “But tell me 
what you Curlytops did all day. I suppose 
you studied your lessons, didn’t you?” 

“Lessons? On Saturday!” cried Janet, 
not seeing the funny twinkle in her father’s 
eyes. 

i “He’s only joking!” declared Ted, and 



The Missing Diamond 


21 


this was true. Mr. Martin liked to tease his 
children a little. 

“Well, what were you doing V 9 he asked. 
“It looks as though Trouble had been dig¬ 
ging in the garden,” he added. 

“I was diggin’ worms for to go fishin' 
with,” said the little boy. 

“And he fell down when Skyrocket tried 
to run between his legs,” added Teddy. 

“That was when we heard the auto crash 
and all ran out to see what it was, ’ ? explained 
Janet. 4 4 Before that we were playing house, 
and Trouble was going to be a miner, and 
Ted was a conductor on an airship up in a 
tree, and I was—Oh, I was-” 

Janet suddenly stopped speaking, clapped 
her hand over her mouth and started to run 
around to the back porch. 

“I forgot all about it!” she cried. 

44 What is it?” asked Mr. Martin, for he 
could fell by Janet’s face that it was some¬ 
thing important. 4 4 What did she forget 
about?” asked Mr. Martin of Ted and 
Trouble. 

The two boys shook their heads. Their 
father followed Janet around to the back 
door and the brothers went with him. They 
saw Janet eagerly searching about the play- 



22 The Curly tops in the Woods 

house, looking on and in boxes and around 
the chairs and pieces of wood. Just then 
Mrs. Martin came to the back door. She 
greeted her husband with a kiss and then, 
turning to Janet, she said: 

“Please give me back my diamond locket, 
my dear. You have played with it long 
enough.’ ’ 

“Oh, Mother!’ 7 gasped Janet. “Haven’t 
you—didn’t you come out and take it? 
Haven’t you your locket?” 

“Why, no, Janet, I haven’t it,” was the 
surprised answer. “I let you take it and 
you said you would bring it back to me.” 

“I know I did, and I meant to. I took 
it off my neck to wash the dishes after our 
play dinner, and Trouble asked me to let 
him look at it and—Oh, Trouble, you have 
mother’s locket, haven’t you? That’s right, 
I let you take it. What did you do with it ? 
Where is mother’s shiny gold and diamond 
locket, Trouble?” 

Trouble looked surprised. 

“I no have got it,” he said. 

“But I let you take it!” insisted Janet. 
“You wanted to hold it in your hand be¬ 
cause it sparkled so nice, and I let you. 
Didn’t you have the locket, Trouble?” 



The Missing Diamond 


23 


“Yes, I did have,” gravely admitted the 
small boy. “An’ it was pretty. It shined 
like the sun. But I gived it back to you, 
Jan. You put it on the box in the play 
kitchen. Don’t you ’member? I gived it 
back to you out of mine own hand!” 

Janet gave a start and looked at the box. 
She remembered now. 

“Yes, that’s right, Trouble. You did 
give it back to me after I let you take it,” 
she said slowly. “You gave it back to me 
and I put it on the box so I wouldn’t catch 
anything in the chain when I unset the play 
table and washed the dishes. Ted, you didn’t 
take the locket, did you?” she asked, turn¬ 
ing to her older brother. 

“No,” he answered. “But I saw you put 
it on the box. It ought to be there now.” 

“Well, it isn’t,” and there were tears in 
Janet’s eyes. “Oh, Mother,” she half 
sobbed, “I can’t find your lovely diamond 
locket! I’m afraid it’s lost! ’ ’ 

Mrs. Martin looked anxious, for the locket 
was one she prized very highly. She did not 
want to lose it. 

“Perhaps it may have been knocked off 
the box when you all ran out to see the auto 
accident, ’ ’ suggested Mr. Martin. 11 Be care- 



24 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


ful where you step, and we’ll look around 
the porch.” 

This was done, but with all the searching 
no diamond locket was found. Mrs. Martin 
helped, and after all the boxes, boards and 
toy furniture had been cleared from the rear 
porch the place was carefully swept. 

“Well, I guess it’s gone,” said Mr. Mar¬ 
tin, looking at his wife. “I shall have to 
buy you another.” 

“I don’t want any other!” exclaimed Mrs. 
Martin, with tears in her eyes. “I want my 
own dear little diamond locket! Oh, Janet, 
why did you lose it?” 

“I—I didn’t mean to,” and Janet began 
to sob. 

“Oh, I know you didn’t, child,” said her 
mother, patting the curly head. ‘‘1 shouldn’t 
have given in to you and let you take it. Are 
you sure Trouble didn’t drop it some¬ 
where?” 

“ I no take it! ” stoutly cried William. ‘‘1 
did hab locket but I gived it back to Jan and 
she losted it. I not lost everything!” and 
he was quite indignant about it, for Trouble 
knew that he had no very good reputation 
about losing things. 

“Yes, Trouble gave it back to me,” de- 



The Missing Diamond 


25 


dared Janet. “And I put it on the box. 
Maybe I picked it up again and was going 
to put it on my neck when the auto crash 
happened. I don’t exactly remember what 
I did with it. Oh, dear, I wish I could 
find it!” 

“Never mind,” consoled Mrs. Martin. 
“If it’s gone it can’t be helped. We’ll look 
around the yard to-morrow.” 

But before the next day came something 
else happened. 

It was after supper in the home of the 
Curlytops. They had been talking o* )r jr the 
events of the day, including the tri fs of 
Jim, the black crow, the loss of the, .cket, 
and the auto crash, when the telephc bell 
jingled. Mr. Martin answered, but at, most 
the first words he heard over the v_Se he 
cried: 

“What’s that? My store on fire? i’jl be 
right down!” 



CHAPTER III 


THE LOST CROW 

You can imagine better than I can tell 
you how much excitement there was in the 
home of the Curlytops when Mr. Martin 
cried a 

“ j|e r store is on fire !’ J 

Mdb. Martin was so excited that she 
drof—id one of Trouble’s stockings she was 
dariP. g. Inside was a round wooden stock¬ 
ing- rner that fell to the floor with a crash. 

Daddy!” cried Jan, in alarm. It 
seei^i a terrible thing to know that her 
fathers store was burning. 

As for Mrs. Martin, after she had dropped 
the stocking, she sat looking at her husband, 
not knowing what to say. 

Ted cried: 

1 i Send for the fire engines!” 

“They’re already there!” said Mr. Mar¬ 
tin, as he ran from the room. 

26 


The Lost Crow 


27 


“I’m coming!” shouted Ted, following 
his father. 

“No, you mustn’t go! Stay here!” com¬ 
manded his mother. 

“I got a little fire engine!” was what 
Trouble said. He did not understand that 
a big engine, pumping much water, was 
needed to put out a large fire. 

“Please, Mother, I just got to go!” 
pleaded Ted, as he reached the door, out of 
which his father had hurried. “I want to 
help daddy!” 

Mrs. Martin was too dazed and surprised 
to say again that Teddy should not go. She 
knew that he wanted to help, and he also 
wanted to see a fire. Any boy would. 

It was early, hardly dark yet, and Mr. 
Martin’s store was not far away. Ted had 
often gone down there alone in the evening. 

“Be careful!” Ted’s mother called to him, 
as he ran out of the front door and down the 
street after his father. There were other 
men and boys on the sidewalk now, all run¬ 
ning toward the scene of the fire. There 
were even some women and a few girls. But 
Jan remained at home with her mother and 
Trouble. 

Mr. Martin heard pattering behind him 



28 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


the sound of little feet that he knew well. 
Turning, he saw Ted. 

“You’d better go back,” warned the boy’s 
father. 

“Please, I want to come! I’ll help!” 
promised the Curlytop lad. 

“Pm afraid you can’t help very much,” 
said Mr. Martin. “But as long as you have 
come this far, I’ll have to take you. Give 
me your hand!” 

With his father’s fingers clasping his, Ted 
found it much easier to run along. They 
were nearing the store and now could hear 
the tooting and clanging of the engines and 
the shouts of men and boys, mingled with 
the barking of dogs. Mr. Martin, in his ex¬ 
citement, was running so fast that Ted could 
hardly keep up, but the Curlytop boy man¬ 
aged to skip along, never letting go his 
father’s hand. 

Suddenly, as they turned a corner, Mr. 
Martin and Ted saw the crowd in the street. 
They saw one engine pumping water, and 
another, with smoke pouring from the stack, 
was getting ready to work. There was also 
a cloud of smoke coming from an outside 
shed of Mr. Martin’s store. 

“The fire’s in the shed, Ted!” exclaimed 



The Lost Crow 


29 


the boy’s father, in relief. “I guess it 
won’t amount to very much.” 

“I’m glad of that,” Ted answered. It 
was about all he could say, for he was quite 
out of breath from having run so fast with 
his father. 

Just then there was a sudden banging and 
popping noise, and a shower of sparks shot 
out from the shed attached to the store. 
Then came some balls of colored fire and 
next a skyrocket sailed out over the fire 
engines and over the heads of the crowd, 
bursting with a pop up in the air. Then 
more beautifully colored sparks, stars, and 
balls of fire were scattered about. 

“Oh, what is it, Daddy ? Fourth of July?” 
cried Ted. 

“That’s just about what it is,” answered 
Mr. Martin. 6 6 1 wonder-’ ’ 

His voice was drowned in another burst 
of sparks from the shed, followed by another 
skyrocket and then some more loud pop- 
pings. Out of the shed rushed a fireman, 
crying: 

“There’s a lot of Roman candles and sky¬ 
rockets going off in there! It isn’t a fire 
at all!” 

As he spoke another skyrocket whizzed 



30 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


over his head and the crowd began to laugh. 

“Fourth of July! Fourth of July!” 
yelled some boys, capering about. They 
yelled again as many colored balls from 
some Roman candles shot into the air. 

“You’re celebrating Independence Day a 
little out of season, aren’t you, Mr. Mar¬ 
tin?” asked a man in the crowd. 

“It begins to look that way,” laughed Mr. 
Martin. ‘ ‘ I see what happened. I had some 
fireworks stored in the shed. In some way 
the box must have caught fire.” 

Another rocket shot up, then some fire¬ 
crackers exploded and next came a glare of 
red fire. 

‘ 1 Hurray! Hurray! ’ ’ shouted the boys in 
the crowd, and Ted could not help joining 
in, for this was the j oiliest fire he had ever 
seen. 

With the burst of red fire the display 
came to an end, the glare died away, there 
was no longer any popping from the fire¬ 
crackers, and all that could be seen was a lot 
of smoke pouring from the shed. 

“I guess the worst is over,” said the fire 
chief, as he told the fireman, who had run 
from the shed when the explosions began, to 
put on a smoke-helmet and go back again 



The Lost Crow 


Si 


to wet what sparks he might find. Other 
firemen, also wearing smoke-helmets, went 
with him. 

“Fire’s out, Chief!” the men reported a 
little later. “Not much damage done.” 

“That’s good,” remarked Mr. Martin. 

“But there’s nothing left of that box of 
fireworks,” said another fireman, with a 
grin, as he took off his smoke-helmet. 

“No, I didn’t suppose there would be,’’ 
replied the store owner. “I never should 
have left it there.” 

“Who set off the skyrockets, Daddy?” 
asked Ted. 

“They set themselves off after the box 
caught fire, ’ ’ his father told him. 4 4 But how 
the box caught I don’t know.” And the 
cause of the little fire was never found out. 

■Really it was not much of a fire, for the 
only things that burned were the fireworks 
and the box in which they had been stored. 
But there was a great deal of smoke, as Ted 
discovered when he and his father went into 
the store a little later. Some firemen and 
police officers also went in, but the crowd 
was kept out. Ted felt proud that he could 
get in ahead of the other boys. But then, of 
course, it was his father’s store. 



32 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


‘‘Nothing at all burned up here,” said the 
fire chief, looking around. “It didn’t even 
scorch the back wall.” 

“That’s because you and your men got 
here so quickly with the engines,” remarked 
Mr. Martin. “I’m much obliged to you.” 

“There’s a lot of smoke, though,” said a 
policeman. “Must have come from that 
window into the shed. It was partly open.” 

“We’ll open some windows and let the 
smoke out,” said a fireman. “You’ll have 
more damage by smoke than you will by fire 
or water, Mr. Martin.” 

“Well, smoke isn’t any too good for gro¬ 
ceries,” said Ted’s father. “About the only 
things I know of that are made better by 
smoke are hams and herring. However, 
this might have been much worse. Who 
turned in the alarm?” 

“Mr. Blake,” said the chief, naming a 
man Mr. Martin knew. “He was passing 
and saw smoke coming from the shed door. 
Then he telephoned to fire headquarters.” 

“I must thank him,” said Mr. Martin. 
“If the fire hadn’t been discovered in time, 
my whole store might have burned. I ’ll just 
let my wife know the danger is past,” he 



The Lost Crow 


33 


added, going to the telephone in the store 
office near the big safe. 

Mrs. Martin soon heard the good news 
that what little fire there had been was put 
out. There was nothing more to be done, 
and a policeman said he would remain on 
guard in the store while the windows and 
doors were kept open to let the smoke blow 
out during the night. 

Then Ted and his father walked back 
home. The engines had gone back to their 
quarters, the dogs had stopped barking, and 
the crowd had vanished, for there was noth¬ 
ing more to be seen. 

“Oh, Mother! It was just like Fourth of 
July!” cried Teddy as he entered the house. 
“Skyrockets, an’ Roman candles an’ every¬ 
thing !” 

“I wish I’d been there!” exclaimed Janet. 
“Didn’t the store burn at all, Daddy?” 

“No, only the box of fireworks in the 
shed.” 

“But there will be some loss, won’t 
there?” asked Mrs. Martin. 

“Well, yes, some,” her husband answered. 
“A few things will have to be thrown away, 
because food does not taste good after it has 
been smoked, and some other things may be 



34 The Curly tops in the Woods 

blackened. But the insurance company will 
pay me. And now, Curlytops, off to bed 
with you!” he cried. “It’s getting late. 
Trouble is in Dreamland long ago, I’m 
sure.” 

“Yes, I tucked him in,” said his mother. 
And when Ted and Janet had gone up to 
bed their mother sighed a little and said: 
“My, but this has been an exciting day!” 

“You didn’t find your diamond locket, I 
suppose?” asked Mr. Martin. 

“No. And I’m afraid I never shall,” 
answered his wife. “I shouldn’t have 
allowed Janet to take it, but she begged so 
hard and they were having such fun playing 
house that I gave in to her. I thought the 
necklace would be safe on the porch.” 

“Yes, you’d imagine it would,” agreed 
her husband. “I rather think Trouble had 
a hand in the loss of your diamond,” he 
went on. “He must have picked it up be¬ 
cause it was bright and shiny, and then have 
dropped it.” 

“No, I think Trouble isn’t to blame this 
time,” replied Mrs. Martin. “He does mis¬ 
chief enough, but this time he seems to know 
what he is talking about. He had the locket 
in his hand, but gave it back to Janet. And 




The Lost Crow 


35 


she isn’t sure what happened to it after the 
auto crash.” 

“Well, it’s gone, at any rate, and there’s 
no use worrying about it,” said Mr. Martin. 
“Now I must think what I am going to do 
to-morrow. I can’t open the store until 
after the insurance people have figured out 
how much they will pay me for my loss.” 

“Will this spoil your plans?” asked his 
wife. “I mean can you get off to Mount 
Major to start the store for the lumber 
camp?” 

“Yes, I think so,” answered the father of 
the Curlytops. “In fact I think this little 
fire will make it easier. I can’t do any busi¬ 
ness here because my store will be closed 
until the loss is settled. And while I’m 
waiting for that I can go to Mount Major. 
I’ll leave somebody in charge. How would 
you like to go along?” he asked. 

“You mean all of us?” she questioned. 
“I couldn’t very well go and leave the chil¬ 
dren here.” 

“Yes, I mean for all of us to go,” was the 
reply. “I shall have to remain several 
weeks to get the lumber-camp store well 
started, and as this is practically the begin- 



36 The Curly tops in the Woods 

ning of the summer vacation in the school 
the children can just as well go as not.” 

“Where could we stay in the woods?” 
asked Mrs. Martin. 

“ There is a bungalow there—a very good 
one, I believe. I intended to live in it my¬ 
self, but there is room for us all.” 

“The children will be delighted!” ex¬ 
claimed Mrs. Martin. “To think of spend¬ 
ing a summer in the woods!” 

“Yes, the Curlytops will like the woods 
all right, I think,” chuckled Mr. Martin. 
“And so will Trouble. Well tell them about 
it in the morning.” 

Mr. Martin made an early trip to his 
store, to look over the damage by daylight. 
When he came back the Curlytops and 
Trouble were having their breakfasts. 

“Is store all burned?” asked Trouble, 
pausing in his eating of oatmeal and milk. 

“Oh, no, not quite all burned,” laughed 
his father. “Why didn’t you come down 
with your fire engine and help put the blaze 
out, Trouble?” he asked, teasingly. 

“Mother—she now—she wouldn’t let 
me,” stammered the little fellow, getting 
ready to take a spoonful of oatmeal and 
milk. But somehow or other, he missed 



The Lost Crow 


37 


his aim and part of the spoon’s contents 
spilled on the table. 

“Oh, look what you did!” cried Janet. 
“Look, Trouble!” 

Trouble looked. He often soiled the table 
cloth and more than once he had been 
scolded for it, as his mother did not want 
him to fall into careless table manners. 

“Now you did it!” cried Janet. 

“Yep—yep—I did spill some milk,” ad¬ 
mitted Trouble. “But—but you—you— 
now—you now —lost mother’s diamond 
locket!” accused the little fellow. 

“Never mind, Trouble! It couldn’t be 
helped,” said his father, as he took up the 
spilled milk. 

‘ ‘ Oh, dear! ’ ’ sighed Janet. “ I’m so sorry, 
Mother, and I-” 

“Never mind, my dear!” soothed Mrs. 
Martin. “We may find the locket yet.” 

But there were tears in the little girl’s 
eyes, and Ted, too, felt a bit sad, for he 
thought that in moving about the boxes in 
the playhouse he might have knocked the 
locket down into some hole or crack where 
it could never be found. 

“Don’t worry about it,” went on Mrs. 



38 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


Martin. “Tell them the good news, Daddy, 
and cheer them up.” 

“What good news?” asked Ted. 

“Is it about the fire?” asked Janet. 
“Wasn’t it your place after all, Daddy?” 

“Oh, there was a fire in my store all 
right,” her father told her. “But it didn’t 
really amount to much. However, the fire 
will not prevent my going to the Mount 
Major lumber camp, to start a supply store 
there for the men. And your mother and I 
have decided that we shall all go there and 
spend the summer vacation.” 

“Up to Mount Major?” cried Ted. 

“Yes,” his father said. 

“In the woods?” exclaimed Janet, clap¬ 
ping her hands. 

“Yes.” 

“Oh, what fun!” cried the Curlytops to¬ 
gether, and Trouble, finishing his oatmeal, 
added : 

“I likes to have fun!” 

“We know that!” chuckled Ted. 

And then followed such a lot of talk and 
so much laughter over the happy days to 
come that it is a wonder anyone ate any 
breakfast. And when the meal was nearly 
over there came a ring at the door, and Mr. 



The Lost Crow 


39 


Jenk, the neighbor in the adjoining house, 
came in. 

4 ‘Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Martin,’’ said 
Mr. Jenk, “especially after your fire 
trouble.” 

“You’re not disturbing us,” said Mr. 
Martin pleasantly. “As for the fire, it 
didn’t amount to as much as we feared. It 
was really only some fireworks.” 

“What I came over for,” said Mr. Jenk, 
as he took his seat in a chair, “is to ask you 
if you have seen Jim this morning.” 

“Your tame crow?” asked Mr. Martin. 

“Yes, Jim,” went on Mr. Jenk. “My 
crow is missing, and I wouldn’t lose him for 
a good deal. He’s worth more than a hun¬ 
dred dollars and he gets cuter and smarter 
every day.” 

‘‘Oh, is Jim gone ?’’ exclaimed Ted “How 
did it happen?” 

“That’s what I don’t know,” answered 
Mr. Jenk. “He came in last night, as he 
always does, just before dark, and he went 
to sleep on his perch in the kitchen. But 
this morning he was gone. I know he used 
to come over here quite often, and I thought 
perhaps some of you might have seen him.” 

“We saw him yesterday afternoon,” re- 



40 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


plied Janet, and Ted nodded his head at 
this. “But we haven’t seen him this morn¬ 
ing.” 

“It’s too bad,” said Mr. Jenk, as he arose 
to leave. “I’d give a good deal to get my 
crow back. That theater man said he was 
one of the best trick birds he’d ever seen.” 

“He looked so funny when he stood on one 
leg and stuck the other out,” added Janet. 

“Yes, that was one of the first tricks I 
taught him,” remarked Mr. Jenk. 

“Yes, and he could make a noise like pop¬ 
ping corks as real as anything!” said Teddy. 
“Come on, Janet,” he added. “Let’s go 
look for Jim. Maybe he’s out in a tree.” 

As the children were about to leave the 
table, Mrs. Martin suddenly raised her hand 
for silence and called: 

“Hark!” 

Out in the kitchen sounded a loud “pop!” 

“There’s Jim now!” cried Ted, making 
a rush for the kitchen. 



CHAPTER iy 
trouble’s squirrel 

Ted Martin was not alone in his rush for 
the kitchen. He was followed by Janet and 
Trouble. Only Trouble did not get very far. 
For Skyrocket, the dog, who had been asleep 
in a corner, roused up suddenly at the sound 
of Ted’s hurrying steps and managed to get 
in Trouble’s way. 

The result was that Trouble fell down. 
But, as he was a fat, chubby little chap, a 
fall did not harm him much. Only this time 
he stepped on Skyrocket’s paw and the dog 
howled. 

‘ ‘ My! More excitement! ’ ’ laughed Mother 
Martin, as she followed Ted and Janet, first 
stopping to pick up Trouble and make sure 
he wasn’t hurt. Mr. Martin and Neighbor 
Jenk followed more slowly. 

“Where’s Jim?” asked Ted of Lucy, the 
colored cook. 


41 


42 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


“Whar am who, chile ?” asked Lucy. 

4 ‘Where is Jim, Mr. Jenk’s tame crow?” 
repeated Ted. 

“We heard him out here, making a noise 
like pulling a cork from a bottle,” added 
Janet. “Where did he go, Lucy?” 

“Yo’ mean a Jim crow was out heah 
makin’ believe pull corks from a bottle?” 
asked the cook. 

“Yes, it’s one of his tricks,” explained 
Mr. Jenk, though as he looked around the 
kitchen and saw no glistening black bird he 
began to wonder. 

“Dat wasn’t no crow pullin’ a cork!” said 
Lucy, with a laugh that shook her fat sides. 

“What was it then?” asked Mr. Martin. 

“It was me! Ah done pulled a cork from 
de vinegah bottle,” explained Lucy, and 
she showed them a bottle of vinegar she had 
just opened. Pulling the cork had caused 
a popping sound like that made by Jim the 
pet crow. 

“Then he isn’t here,” said Mr. Jenk. 

“No, sah. Ah ain’t seen no crow,” an¬ 
swered Lucy. “Dat bird suah am too 
smart,” she went on. “He done hab de evil 
eye, he suah hab!” 

“You mustn’t say such things, Lucy,” 



Trouble’s Squirrel 


43 


chided Mrs. Martin. “There isn’t any such 
thing as an evil eye.” 

“Well, mebby dey ain’t,” admitted the 
cook. “But ef dey was a evil eye, dat Jim 
crow suah would hab it!” 

“He’s smart, all right,” admitted Mr. 
Jenk. “Well, as long as my crow isn’t here 
I may as well go back and look elsewhere 
for him. I hope I find him.” 

“So do we,” echoed Ted. 

“If you see anything of him, either catch 
him or let me know,” begged the owner of 
Jim. “I’ll give a reward of five dollars for 
him.” 

“I’d like to earn all that money,” sighed 
Ted, for he had visions of what he could buy 
with five dollars. “But we’re going away 
to Mount Major, to live in a lumber camp, 
and I guess we won’t see Jim up there, Mr. 
Jenk.” 

“No, I don’t suppose you will,” admitted 
the neighbor, with a sigh. “But if you do 
see him let me know. Jim was a valuable 
crow! So you are going to Mount Major, 
are you?” 

“Yes,” replied the Curly tops’ father, and 
told about the proposed trip. 

Mr. Jenk went back home, and then the 



44 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


Curlytops talked of their coming outing in 
the woods. Trouble found the pail and 
shovel with which he had been playing the 
day before and started for the garden. 

“Where are you going?” asked his 
mother. 

“ I go dig more worms, ’ ’ he answered. ‘ ‘ I 
got to have a lot of worms to fish with.” 

“Where are you going fishing?” Ted 
wanted to know. 

“I fish in lake up by daddy’s lumber 
camp,” was the reply. “Daddy, he say 
there’s lake.” 

“Yes, there is,” said Mrs. Martin, in 
answer to looks from Ted and Janet. 
“There is also a river, I believe, down which 
logs are floated. But you’ll see all this when 
we go to Mount Major.” 

“When are we going?” asked Ted. 

‘ 1 And how ? ” Janet wanted to know. 1 i In 
the train?” 

“I think we are going by auto the end of 
this week,” answered Mrs. Martin, for after 
the search for the crow Mr. Martin had gone 
back to his store to meet the fire insurance 
agents. 

“Oh, what fun we’ll have!” joyously 
cried J anet. 



Trouble's Squirrel 


45 


“The best times we ever knew!” agreed 
her Curlytop brother. 

“Let’s go look for Mr. Jenk’s crow,” pro¬ 
posed Janet, and out they ran to the fields 
and a little patch of woods not far from 
their home. 

“Where you go?” asked Trouble, as he 
looked up from his digging to watch his 
brother and sister. “I come,” he added, not 
bothering to put in all the words. 

“We’re going to look for Jim,” said Ted. 

“I find him!” declared Trouble, as if it 
were easy to locate a missing crow. Though 
Jim was lame in his legs, and could only 
hobble about, his wings were as strong as 
ever and he could fly many miles. 

“Yes, you’ll find him—not!” laughed 
Ted. “You’ll find him as we found mother’s 
missing diamond.” 

“Oh, don’t talk about that!” pleaded 
Janet, who felt very sad over the lost locket. 

The search for the tame crow was no more 
successful than had been the one for the 
diamond locket. The children looked 
through the fields and in the little patch of 
woods, calling: 

“Jim! Jim! Jim!” 

But there came no “Caw! Caw!” in an- 



46 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


swer, nor did the Curlytops hear the sound 
of popping corks. 

“It’s too bad about Mr. Jenk’s crow,” 
said Ted, after they had tramped about for 
some time with no success. 

“Maybe he flew off to go in some show,” 
suggested Janet, with a laugh. “He likes 
to do his tricks and have us watch him.” 

“There’s no telling where he is,” decided 
Ted. 6 ‘ I guess we may as well go back home. 
If we’re going to camp out in the woods I 
have lots of things I want to take along.” 

“So have I,” decided Janet. “I don’t 
know which of my dolls to take.” 

“Take ’em all,” suggested Ted. 

“Theodore Martin! As if I could take a 
dozen dolls!” cried Janet. 

“A dozen? Have you a dozen dolls?” 
asked her brother, in surprise. 

“Course I have! And I know some girls 
that have ’most two dozen,” said Janet. 

“Whew!” whistled Ted. “Two dozen 
dolls! That’s terrible! ’ ’ 

“ ’Tisn’t any such thing!” declared 
Janet. “How many marbles have you, Ted 
Martin?” 

“Oh, I guess maybe I have a hundred. 
But marbles are different, and- 



Trouble's Squirrel 


47 

“How many tops have you, Ted Martin?” 

“Well, maybe, now, about ten or eleven. 
But-” 

“How many boats have you, Ted Mar¬ 
tin?” 

“Oh, about nine, but-” 

“Well, don’t talk to me about a dozen 
dolls!” cried Janet. “You boys are just as 
bad as we girls that way.” 

“Maybe we are,” replied Ted, with a 
laugh. “Hello, where’s Trouble ?” he asked 
suddenly, looking around and not seeing his 
small brother. 

“He was here a moment ago,” said Janet, 
and her voice grew a little anxious. 

“I know he was,” said Ted. “But he 
isn’t here now. Oh, Trouble!” he called 
loudly. 

There was no answer. 

“Maybe he’s lost,” suggested Janet. 

“He can’t be lost very long or very far ,’ 3 
Ted assured her. “For he was right here 
not more than two minutes ago and he 
couldn’t go far in that time.” 

“Call again,” suggested Janet, and Ted 
raised his voice in a loud shout. 

11 Trouble! William! Trouble! ’ ’ 



48 


The Curlytops in the Woods 


Thus Ted called, but as he and his sister 
listened there was no answer. 

“He must have wandered off somewhere 
when we didn’t notice,” suggested Janet. 
“We’d better hurry back home and get 
mother and Skyrocket. Skyrocket can smell 
which way Trouble went and find him.” 

“Yes, I guess we’d better do that,” agreed 
Ted. “I never saw such a boy as he is for 
doing things!” 

Just as Ted and Janet were about to hurry 
home and tell their mother the news, they 
heard a noise in the underbrush at the edge 
of the woods. The figure of a boy was dimly 
seen, and Janet cried: 

“There he is!” 

But when the boy came out of the bushes 
it was not Trouble. It was Henry Simpson, 
a playmate of Trouble’s, though somewhat 
older. 

“Oh, Henry, have you seen Trouble?” 
asked Ted. 

“Yes, I saw him,” said Henry, who was 
not much of a talker. You had to ask a 
separate question for everything you wanted 
Henry to tell you. 

“ You saw Trouble! Where is he ? ” cried 
J anet. 



Trouble's Squirrel 


49 


“Over there,” and Henry pointed to a 
little gnlly in the woods where, during the 
spring rains, a stream flowed. 

“What’s he doing there?” asked Janet, 
while Ted started on a run for the place 
pointed out by Henry. 

“He’s chasin’ a squirrel,” added the other 
boy. 

“Chasing a squirrel?” cried Janet. 
“Why, he never can catch a squirrel, and 
he oughtn’t to try. He might get hurt. 
Why didn’t you tell him he couldn’t catch 
a squirrel, Henry?” 

“I did tell him,” and Henry grinned. 

“What did he say?” asked Janet, as she 
followed Ted across the path toward the 
gully. 

“He told me to go home an’ not bother 
him, ’cause he was goin’ to catch a squirrel 
an’ have the squirrel find the lost crow,” 
said Henry. This was quite a long sentence 
for him, and having gotten it out he turned 
around and walked off. 

“Where you going?” asked Janet. 

“Home,” was all Henry answered. 

And home he went. 

But Ted and Janet hurried on to the little 
gully, or valley, in the woods. There was no 



50 The Curly tops in the Woods 

water flowing in it now and the place was 
quite dry. As the Curlytops reached the 
edge of it, they heard, down below them, 
someone pushing through the dried bushes. 

“Trouble! Trouble!” cried Ted. 6 ‘Are 
you there V 9 

“Yes, I here,” was the reply. “Don’t 
scare my squirrel!” 

“Your squirrel!” exclaimed Janet. 
“Have you caught one?” 

“I get him pretty soon,” Trouble called 
back. “I almost got him twice, but he 
skips!” 

“Squirrels are great skippers,” laughed 
Ted. 

They went down a little farther into the 
gully and there saw Trouble. He was walk¬ 
ing slowly along, holding out his hand in 
which he held a nut. And not far from him, 
skipping from limb to limb of a tree, was 
a large gray squirrel. 

“Are you trying to catch that squirrel, 
Trouble?” asked Ted. 

“ No, ” was the answer. 4 ‘ I want feed him 
an’ make him show me where Jim crow is.” 

“You’d better go down there and get 
Trouble,” Janet advised her brother. 

“I will,” he said. 



Trouble's Squirrel 


51 


“And maybe you might see Jim,” added 
the little Curlytop girl. 

“I’ll look,” offered Ted. “Though if 
there was a crow here I guess he’d be caw- 
ing.” 

However, there was no sight of the glis¬ 
tening black bird, and Ted made his way 
down the side of the gully. Trouble was on 
the very bottom, where the stream ran when¬ 
ever there was any water, but the course was 
now dry. And because he was down in the 
gully, Trouble had not heard his brother 
and sister calling to him. 

“Come back, Trouble! Let the squirrel 
go!” called Ted. 

“I give him this nut!” insisted the little 
fellow. “He is a good squirrel an’-” 

But Trouble did not finish that sentence. 

The next moment, to the surprise of Ted 
and Janet, their little brother fell down and 
vanished from sight. 



CHAPTER V 

OFF TO MOUNT MAJOR 

“Did you see that, Ted? Did you see 
where Trouble went?” cried Janet. 

“Yes, I saw him fall, but I don’t know 
where he went,” Ted answered. “I guess 
he’s down in a hole.” 

“Oh, maybe there’s water in it and he’ll 
drown! ’ ’ went on Janet. 

“There isn’t any water here now,” said 
Ted. 

And it was a good thing the gully had 
gone dry, for Trouble had fallen into a hole 
that was filled with deep water when the 
stream was rushing through the gully. But, 
as Ted remarked, it was now dry. 

For a moment after his tumble Trouble 
uttered no sound. And then he yelled: 

“Come an’ get me! Come an’ get me out, 
Ted!” 


52 



“YES, I HERE,” WAS THE REPLY. “DON'T SCARE MY SQUIRREL!” 
“The Curlytops in the Woods.” Page 50 



































































- 


































Of to Mount Major 


53 


“I’m coming!” answered the older boy. 
“Don’t be afraid, Trouble! I’m coming!” 

By the time Janet reached the edge of 
the leaf-filled hole into which Trouble had 
fallen, Teddy had pulled out his little 
brother. Trouble was not much hurt, being 
only bruised, but he was covered with leaves 
and dirt. 

“There, there, William, you’re all right,” 
soothed Ted. 

‘ t Don’t cry! ’ ’ begged Janet. “ We ’ll take 
you to the store and buy you a lollypop.” 

Trouble rubbed his tears away, but in 
doing so wiped a lot of dirt from his hands 
all over his face so that he was quite a sad 
looking sight. However, Janet cleaned him 
up as best she could with her handkerchief. 

“Now you’re as good as ever,” laughed 
Ted, as he picked off the dead leaves cling¬ 
ing to his small brother. “What were you 
doing down there, anyhow?” 

“I wanted to get squirrel an’ have him 
show me where crow is,” explained Trouble. 

Of course he didn’t get near the squirrel, 
and, even if he had given the big-tailed crea¬ 
ture the nut, the squirrel would not have 
eaten it, as it was wormy and had no kernel 
in it. 



54 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


“But maybe to-morrow I find another nut 
an’ I give that to squirrel an’ he find Jim 
crow,” said Trouble, as he walked home with 
Ted and Janet. 

“It’s too early for this year’s nuts,” said 
Ted. “Anyhow, we have to pack up our 
things to go to Mount Major.” 

“Oh, yes, I go to woods!” laughed 
Trouble. “An’ I take my fire engine an’ 
squirt on fire.” 

They reached home and told their mother 
about the little adventure. She warned 
Trouble he mustn’t do such a thing again 
as wandering off by himself. 

“No’m, I won’t!” Trouble promised. 

“But if he doesn’t do that he’ll do some¬ 
thing else just as troublesome,” said Janet, 
with a sigh. And Trouble did. 

These were busy days in the home of the 
Curlytops. Mr. Martin had much to do to 
get matters straightened out about his 
smoke-harmed store, and he had also to get 
ready to go to the lumber camp in the woods 
to start the supply store there. Mrs. Martin 
must pack the things that were to be taken 
for a long vacation stay—she must see to 
the clothing for herself and the three chil¬ 
dren. The food supplies Mr. Martin would 



Off to Mount Major 


55 


look after, as he had to ship up several cars 
of groceries to stock the lumber supply 
store. 

Lucy, the colored cook, was to be taken 
along. Once, though, after they had talked 
over the joys of camping in the woods, Lucy 
came in where Mr. and Mrs. Martin were 
sitting, after the children had gone to bed, 
and said: 

44 Please, ma’am, Mrs. Martin, Ah doan 
t’ink Ah’d bettah go off to de woods wif yo’ 

all.” 

“Why not, Lucy?” asked Mrs. Martin, in 
surprise. 4 4 1 have been counting on you. ’’ 

“ Yais, ma ’am, ’ ’ went on Lucy. 4 4 But, all 
de same, Mrs. Martin, Ah’s kinder skairt ob 
dem jinkses.” 

“Jinkses! What do you mean?” asked 
Mr. Martin. 

4 4 Why, Teddy he done tole me dat de 
woods am filled an’ runnin’ ober wif jinkses. 
Dey’s animiles wif curtain tassles on der 
ears. Ah doan t’ink Ah’d laik ’em much, 
Mrs. Martin, ma’am!” 

44 Nonsense!” laughed Mr. Martin. 44 Ted¬ 
dy must have been talking about the lynx, 
or bobcat. They do have tassels, or tufts, of 



56 The Curly tops in the Woods 

hair on their ears, but they won’t hurt you, 
Lucy!” 

“No? Won’t dey, Mistah Martin?” she 
asked anxiously. 

“No, indeed, Lucy. Ted shouldn’t have 
spoken of the bobcats in the woods. I don’t 
believe we’ll see one. But if you should, 
Lucy, the lynx would run as soon as it saw 
you.” 

“Golly! He wouldn’t done run any faster 
dan Ah would!” chuckled the cook. “All 
right. Den Ah guess Ah goes!” 

This much settled, there were other mat¬ 
ters to be looked after before the trip to 
Mount Major could be started. As Mr. Mar¬ 
tin had thought, the settlement of his fire 
loss by the insurance company would take 
some time. During that time his store would 
be in charge of a trusted man whose name 
was Henderson, and he could thus well 
afford to go to the lumber camp. 

The Curlytops and Trouble were so ex¬ 
cited over the prospect of fun in the lumber 
camp that nothing they played around their 
home now, and no sports that they took 
part in with their playmates, seemed to sat¬ 
isfy them. They were always thinking of 



Off to Mount Major 


57 


what they would do at Mount Major, and 
planning picnics and excursions there. 

4 ‘I’m going to set a trap and see if I can’t 
catch a lynx,” declared Ted. 

“Well, don’t scare Lucy any more, no 
matter what you do,” begged his mother. 
“First I know, she’ll leave and then we’ll 
have no cook.” 

“I’ll be careful,” promised Ted. 

Janet had packed her dolls, Teddy his 
toys, and Trouble had filled a box with odds 
and ends of things he wanted to take to the 
woods. But afterward Mrs. Martin went 
over all the children’s boxes and took out a 
great many things without telling them 
about it. 

“They’ll never miss them,” she said to 
her husband. “But if I let them take all 
they wanted there would be no room for any¬ 
thing else.” 

“Yes, they have queer ideas,” he agreed. 
“I don’t suppose you found your diamond 
locket?” he asked. 

“No,” his wife replied, with a sigh. “I 
have given it up. I don’t say much about 
it, for I don’t want Janet to feel too bad 
about losing it. As I should never have let 
her take it, it is as much my fault as hers.” 



58 The Curly tops in the Woods 

The trip to Mount Major was to be made, 
as I have told you, in Mr. Martin’s large 
automobile. In this would also be carried 
the baggage and some food and supplies that 
would last the party until the things sent by 
express had arrived from Cresco. 

It was a long day’s travel by automobile 
from Cresco to Mount Major, and so Mr. 
Martin planned to get an early morning 
start on the day that was set for the trip. 

“We will have an early breakfast here,” 
said Mr. Martin. “We will lunch on the 
road. And if we have luck we’ll have sup¬ 
per in our bungalow in the woods.” 

“Oh, I just know we’ll have the loveliest 
fun!” cried Janet. 

“That’s right!” agreed Ted. 

“An’ maybe I find Jim crow,” said 
Trouble. 

So far no trace had been found of the 
missing lame bird pet of Mr. Jenk. Jim 
seemed to have disappeared. Once or twice 
he had flown away, to be gone perhaps a day 
or so, but he had never remained away as 
long as this before, his owner declared. 

The Curlytops and other children of the 
neighborhood had searched through the 
near-by woods and fields for Jim, but had 



Off to Mount Major 


59 


not heard his harsh cawing cry nor had they 
heard him “pull corks.’’ And of course no 
one had seen him stand on one leg, with the 
other stuck stiffly out and his head, with his 
sharp, beady eyes, thrust to one side. 

Jim was not to be found, and Mr. Jenk 
felt sorry to lose the crow. He even pub¬ 
lished a notice in the Cresco paper about 
Jim, offering now a reward of ten dollars 
for the return of his pet. 

“If I find the crow I’ll give you half the 
reward,” promised Ted to his sister. 

“And if I find him I’ll give you half,” 
she added. “If I get the five dollars I’ll 
buy me a new doll carriage.” 

“And I’ll get roller skates, a steam en¬ 
gine, a foot ball, some ice skates and a base¬ 
ball bat,” decided Ted. 

“My!” laughed his father, “you must 
think the five dollars are going to be rubber 
ones that will stretch out enough to buy a 
whole store full of toys.” 

“Well, I can get something, anyhow!” 
declared Ted. 

“First find the crow” his father told him. 

Teddy and Janet made up their minds 
they would spend all the remainder of the 
time before leaving for Mount Major look- 



60 The Curly tops in the Woods 

ing for Jim. This they did, but without 
result. Jim remained lost. 

Then came the glad day on which they 
were to start. As much as possible had 
been packed into the automobile which was 
roomy. And then in piled Mr. and Mrs. 
Martin, taking Trouble on the front seat 
with them, while Ted, Janet and Lucy rode 
on the rear seat. 

“HI take care of you, Lucy, if any bob¬ 
cats come after you,” promised Teddy. 

“Har! Har!” laughed fat Lucy. “Ah 
ain’t skairt ob no bobcats no mo’. Yo’ papa 
done told me ’bout ’em! Ah ain’t skairt! 
Har! Har!” 

Off they started, the Curlytops and 
Trouble waving their hands to their play¬ 
mates who gathered to bid them good-bye 
and wish them a happy summer in the 
woods. 

Mr. Martin drove around past his store, 
for he wanted to leave a last word with Mr. 
Henderson, who was in charge, and the chil¬ 
dren could see where carpenters were at 
work repairing the burned shed, for there 
had been some slight damage there, it was 
later discovered. 

On through the town, out into the beau- 



Off to Mount Major 


61 


tiful country, rolled the automobile, with 
Ted and Janet now and then breaking out 
into short snatches of song to show how 
happy they were. 

They stopped for lunch along a beautiful 
road that led through the woods, and after 
eating they walked around to “ stretch their 
legs,” as Mr. Martin called it. 

“But we must not delay too long,” said 
daddy, after a while. “We have a long way 
yet to go, and I don’t want to arrive after 
dark. Better pile in, Curlytops!” 

Once more the automobile was filled. Mr. 
Martin started the motor and let in the 
clutch. But something was wrong. The car 
moved a little way and then came to a stop 
with a jerk. The engine stalled. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Mrs. Martin. 

“I don’t know,” her husband answered. 
“Maybe I didn’t give her enough gas.” 

Once more he started off, but this time 
there was a sudden stop, followed by a 
crashing, splintering sound. 

“Oh, we’re pulling a tree down behind 
us!” cried Janet. “Stop, Daddy!” 



CHAPTER VI 


THE HAY WAGON 

Daddy Martin put on the brakes very 
quickly and pushed on the pedal that threw 
out the clutch. With a squeak of the brake 
bands the car came to a stop. The cracking, 
splintering sound stopped, and the father 
of the Curlytops quickly leaped from the 
automobile to look behind and see what the 
trouble was. 

44 What is it?” asked Mrs. Martin. 

4 4 Anything broken ?” Ted wanted to 
know. 

4 4 We seem to have broken off a small 
tree,” replied Mr. Martin. 44 But the auto 
isn’t damaged. We are chained fast to a 
tree.” 

44 Chained fast to a tree!” cried Janet. 
44 How can that be?” 

44 With one of the tire chains,” went on 
Mr. Martin. 4 4 One end of a tire chain is 

fast around a tree and the other end of the 
62 


The Hay Wagon 


63 


chain is tangled around one of the car 
springs. No wonder I couldn’t move!” 

“How did it happen ?” asked Mrs. Martin. 

“It couldn’t have happened by accident, M 
replied her husband. “That chain never 
got there by itself. I remember using the 
chains the other day, and, instead of putting 
them with the tools under the seat, I left 
them in the front of the car. Some one must 
have taken a chain and made us fast.” 

As Mr. Martin said this he looked sharply 
at Trouble, who had been sitting between 
him and his wife in the front seat. 

“Did you do that Trouble?” asked his 
mother, shaking a finger at him. 

“I guess maybe I did,” admitted small 
William. 

“Don’t you know that you did it?” asked 
his father sternly. 

“Yes, I did it,” confessed Trouble. 

“What for?” asked Janet. 

“You might have caused an accident, 1 ” 
added Ted. 

“I—er—now—I now—jest did it so our 
auto wouldn’t run away,” explained 
Trouble. 

“Oh, dear!” sighed Mrs. Martin. “What 
will you do next, Trouble?” 



64 


The Curlytops in the Woods 


“I don’t know,” he said, and he probably 
meant it. For not even small William him¬ 
self knew what next would pop into his 
mind. 

“Well, it’s lucky no great harm was 
done,” said Mr. Martin. “If I had started 
off too suddenly I might have broken a tire 
chain. Then when we needed it to use on a 
wet and slippery pavement, William, we 
wouldn’t have had it. I might skid and 
break a wheel.” 

“Yes, ma’am—I mean yes, sir, I—I’m 
sorry,” said Trouble. 

By asking Trouble questions they learned 
how it had happened. When they got out to 
“stretch their legs,” as Mr. Martin called it, 
William alighted with the others. Then, 
when no one saw him, he took one of the 
tire chains from the front of the car. He 
tangled one end of the chain around the 
rear spring, and the other end of the chain 
he wound around the small tree. 

Consequently, when Mr. Martin started 
his machine he pulled over and broke off the 
small tree, this causing the cracking, splin¬ 
tering sound. 

“Well, it might have been a lot worse,” 
said Mr. Martin, as he loosed the tire chain 



The Hay Wagon 


65 


and put it, with the second one, in the tool 
box under the seat. 

“Better look to make sure there’s noth¬ 
ing else loose that William can make trouble 
with,” suggested Mrs. Martin, with a smile. 

“If William makes any more trouble I’ll 
send him back home to stay with Sky¬ 
rocket,” declared Mr. Martin, for the Curly- 
tops’ dog had not been brought along on 
this trip, it being thought too much bother. 

“I’ll be good,” promised the little fellow. 

The automobile was being driven along 
the pleasant country roads toward Mount 
Major and the lumber camp where Mr. 
Martin was going to start the store for the 
lumber company that would get out the 
trees. 

“Are they going to float the logs down 
the river?” asked Ted. 

“Some of the logs will be floated that 
way,” his father said. “Others will be 
sawed into boards right there in the woods.” 

“How can they saw them?” asked Janet. 

“The men have set up a regular saw mill 
there in the forest,” her father answered. 
“And, before I forget it, I want to warn 
you children—all of you—to keep away 
from the saw.” 



66 The Curlytops in the Woods 

“Yes, it is very dangerous!” added Mrs. 
Martin. 

“We’ll keep away,” promised Ted. 

“And see that William keeps away, too,” 
cautioned Mr. Martin. 

It was well along in the afternoon when 
Mrs. Martin noticed that her husband was 
speeding the automobile each chance he got 
on good roads, and she also saw him often 
looking at the clock on the board in front of 
him. 

“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Are 
we late?” 

“We aren’t quite as far along on our trip 
as I’d like to be,” he answered. “There 
were more hills than I counted on. But I 
think we’ll get there before dark.” 

“I hope so,” said his wife. “It won’t be 
very pleasant settling in a strange bunga¬ 
low after dark.” 

“I’ll hurry as much as is safe,” said Mr. 
Martin. He put on more speed, but as they 
were coming down a narrow road that led 
across a small white bridge there appeared, 
just ahead coming toward them around a 
turn in the highway, a big load of hay. 

“You’ll never pass that!” said Ted. 



The Hay Wagon 


67 


“Call to him to stop before he gets on the 
bridge/’ said Janet. 

“It would be wise to do that,” added Mrs. 
Martin. “If he doesn’t stop, or you don’t, 
Dick, you’ll meet on the bridge, and there 
isn’t room to pass anything as large as a 
load of hay.” 

“I guess you’re right,” admitted her hus¬ 
band. “I can’t very well stop on this hill 
with the load I have. I say, you there!” he 
called to the driver of the hay wagon. “Pull 
up, will you ? Wait until I pass you, please! 
Don’t go on the bridge!” 

Whether the rattle of the hay wagon 
drowned Mr. Martin’s words, or whether 
the farmer was deaf was not known, but the 
load of dried grass kept on, and, in another 
moment, it and the automobile were close 
to the bridge. 

“Oh, look out!” screamed Mrs. Martin. 

“Whoa there!” yelled the farmer, seeing 
the danger. “What you trying to do?” he 
asked, rather angrily. 

Mr. Martin did not try to answer then. 
He was putting on both foot and hand 
brakes with all his power. And luckily he 
stopped right in front of the horses of the 
hay wagon. There never would have been 



68 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


room for the automobile to have passed the 
hay wagon on the bridge. Two automobiles, 
or an ordinary wagon and an automobile 
could have passed easily. But the hay stuck 
out so much on either side that it took up 
most of the roadway. 

“Didn’t you hear me call to you, asking 
you to keep off the bridge until I had crossed 
it?” asked Mr. Martin. 

“Wa’al, no, I didn’t,” answered the far¬ 
mer, and he smiled a little. Evidently he 
was not going to get angry after all. 

“I did call to you,” said Mr. Martin. “I 
would have stopped my car before reaching 
the bridge, but I couldn’t, coming down hill 
as I was.” 

“No, I calculate ’twould be pretty 
middlin’ hard,” admitted the farmer. “I’m 
sorry I didn’t hear you. Now if you’ll wait 
a minute I’ll try to back up.” 

“No, you’d better let me do that,” sug¬ 
gested Mr. Martin. “I can back off easier 
than you can. I’ll get out and take a look at 
things.” 

The bridge was rather narrow, and the 
road on either side leading to it was also 
narrow. It was not an easy matter for either 
the hay wagon or the automobile to back up. 



The Hay Wagon 


69 


But one or the other must do it, for they 
could not pass. 

“I think I can back up all right/’ said 
Mr. Martin, after looking the ground over 
carefully. 

“All right, neighbor. Sorry to put you to 
all this trouble/’ said the good-natured 
farmer. 

‘ 6 That’s all right. We must give and take 
in this world if we are going to get along,” 
said Mr. Martin pleasantly. 

“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Mrs. Mar¬ 
tin, as her husband was about to get back in 
the machine and back it up. “I want to get 
out before you try anything like that, 
Dick,” she added. “And the children had 
better get out also.” 

“Maybe it would be better,” her husband 
agreed. “I’ll feel freer then to switch 
around.” 

“Are you going to stay in, Lucy?” asked 
Janet. 

“Good lan’ ob massy no, indeedy!” cried 
the black cook, and out she scrambled. 

The Curlytops and the others stood in the 
road while Mr. Martin carefully backed his 
automobile off the bridge. Ted stood at the 
rear to tell his father which way to turn— 



70 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


whether to the right or the left—to avoid 
going off the road into the ditches which 
were on either side. The farmer had to re¬ 
main on his hay wagon to keep his horses 
quiet, for they seemed a bit skittish at the 
sound of the throbbing automobile. 

At last Mr. Martin had backed far enough 
off the bridge for the hay wagon to keep on 
across it and pull out to one side so the auto¬ 
mobile could go ahead. 

This was done after a while and the road 
cleared. 

“You folks comin , to live around here?” 
asked the farmer, as the Curlytops and 
others began to enter the automobile again. 

“No, we’re just going to stay for a while 
at Mount Major,” answered Mr. Martin. 
“I’m going to open a store for the lumber¬ 
men who are soon to arrive.” 

“Oh, yes, I heard somethin’ ’bout there 
going to be lumberin’ off at Mount Major,” 
the farmer said. “Wa’al, mebby I’ll see you 
again. I live not far from Mount Major. 
Armstrong is my name—Silas Armstrong.” 

“I’m glad to meet you, Mr. Armstrong,” 
greeted Mr. Martin, as he told his own name. 
“And I hope we see you again.” 



The Hay Wagon 71 

“Thanks,” drawled Mr. Armstrong, as he 
drove off. 

Once more the Curlytops were in the car. 
They crossed the bridge and were perhaps 
half a mile down the road when Mrs. Mar¬ 
tin suddenly turned, looked back to where 
Ted and Janet were sitting with Lucy, and 
then Mrs. Martin cried: 

“Where’s William?” 

Quickly Mr. Martin looked to where 
Trouble had been sitting on the other side 
of Mrs. Martin in the front seat. William 
was not there. 

“ Is he back there with you, Janet ?’ ’ asked 
his mother. 

“No, he isn’t here.” 

“Then he’s fallen out,” cried the frantic 
mother. “Dick, stop the car! William has 
fallen out!” 



CHAPTER VII 


AT THE FARMHOUSE 

Mr. Martin acted as quickly in bringing 
the automobile to a stop this time as he had 
done when Trouble had fastened it to a tree 
by the tire chains. Once the car was stopped 
the father of the Curlytops leaped out and 
looked back over the road. 

“I don’t see him anywhere,” he said. 
“Are you sure he isn’t in there?” 

“No, he isn’t here with us,” answered 
Janet. 

“Unless he’s slipped in among the pack¬ 
ages,” added Ted. “I’ll look.” 

“Ef de poor chile am down in amongst 
de t’ings he’s suah to be smashed!” declared 
Lucy. 

But Trouble was not there. Nor was he 
in front. Mr. Martin had been sure of this 
before he leaped from the car. 

“Oh, where can he be?” cried Mrs. Mar¬ 
tin. 


72 


At the Farmhouse 


73 


“He was with us just before we met the 
hay wagon,” said Mr. Martin. “Then we 
all got out to look and see how much room 
there was, and you all stayed out while I 
backed up.” 

“Did Trouble get back in with you?” 
asked the Curlytops’ mother. 

“No, he didn’t,” Janet answered. 

“We thought he was in front with you,” 
said Teddy. 

“And we thought he was in the rear with 
you,” added Mrs. Martin. “It wasn’t until 
I looked back to see if he might be getting 
sleepy that I missed him. Oh, where is he ?” 

“We’ll find him!” declared Mr. Martin. 
“He couldn’t have fallen out, or we would 
have heard him yell.” 

“Then how did he get out?” asked Mrs. 
Martin anxiously. 

“I think he didn’t get in,” her husband 
replied. “I mean, when all of you got back 
in after the hay wagon passed Trouble 
stayed out and I started off without him.” 

“But where can he be?” inquired Janet. 

“Oh, he wandered off along the road to 
pick flowers as he often does,” said Ted. 

The automobile was turned around and 
started back over the road they had come. 



74 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


Eager eyes looked everywhere for a sight of 
Trouble, but he was not seen. They looked 
carefully near the bridge, then went on a 
little farther. As Mr. Martin steered around 
a bend in the road, he saw the hay wagon 
again, just ahead of them. 

‘‘I have an idea!” he suddenly cried, as 
he put on speed. As he neared the big load 
of fodder, in front of which, hidden from 
sight, sat the driver. Mr. Martin called: 

6 6 1 say there! Wait a minute! Have you 
seen a lost boy!” 

He made his voice heard above the rattle 
of the hay wagon. From in front came a 
call: 

“Whoa!” 

The horses came to a stop. 

“What’s that?” asked Mr. Armstrong, 
looking around the front edge of the hay. 

“My little son William is missing,” said 
Mr. Martin. “Did you see anything of him 
along the road?” 

Anxiously Mrs. Martin waited for the 
answer. 

“No, I didn’t see him!” said Mr. Arm¬ 
strong. 

Mrs. Martin seemed on the edge of tears 
when Ted gave a sudden shout. 



At the Farmhouse 


75 


“Maybe he’s up on the load of hay where 
we can’t see him!” he exclaimed. 

“How could he get there?” asked Jan. 

“And wouldn’t he call to us?” asked Mrs. 
Martin doubtingly. 

“He could easily climb up,” explained 
Ted. “He could get on the back of the 
wagon, and there’s a thing like a ladder to 
climb.” 

This was true enough. To keep the hay 
from slipping off the end of his wagon Mr. 
Armstrong had fastened there an upright, 
consisting of two pieces of wood joined by 
cross pieces. It was like a short ladder lead¬ 
ing to the top of the load of hay. 

“Trouble could easily climb that,” insis¬ 
ted Ted. “I’ve seen him climb harder places 
than that.” 

“So have I,” added Janet. 

“But why doesn’t he answer us?” asked 
Mrs. Martin. 

Then Mr. Martin solved the puzzle. 

“If he’s up there maybe he’s asleep,” he 
said. 

“I’ll soon find out!” cried Ted. 

A moment later he was climbing up the 
little ladder at the back of the load of hay. 



76 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


When he reached the top of the pile of 
fodder Ted cried: 

“Here he is!” 

Trouble was peacefully slumbering in a 
little nest he had wiggled himself into on 
top of the sweet-smelling hay. 

“He is like Little Boy Blue!” laughed 
J anet. 

“Except that Boy Blue was under the 
haystack fast asleep, and Trouble is on top 
of the hay,” said Mr. Martin. 

“I’ll slide him down. Catch him!” cried 
Ted to his father. 

They could hear Trouble sleepily pro¬ 
testing at having been awakened. But he 
soon grew good-natured, and amid the 
laughter of the farmer, Janet, her mother 
and Lucy, Ted and his father got the small 
boy down off the load of hay. 

“What did you ever go up there for?” 
asked his mother, as she picked wisps of hay 
out of his hair. 

“Oh, jest for—now—for fun,” slowly 
answered Trouble. 

And that is how it had happened. He had 
strolled around when they were all out of 
the car, waiting for Mr. Martin to back it 
and get it out of the way of the hay. Then 



At the Farmhouse 


77 


Trouble had seen the little ladder leading 
to the top of the fodder. He had scrambled 
up on a wheel when no one was watching and 
climbed to the summit. 

“It was awful nice up there,” he said, 
“an’ I had a nice sleep, I did.” 

“It’s a wonder you weren’t jiggled off!” 
exclaimed Janet. 

“Oh, you should see the hole he was in!” 1 
laughed Ted. “He was like a little squirrel 
in a nest.” 

“I like to be a squirrel,” declared Trouble. 
“An’ if I was a squirrel now I would eat a 
nut for I am hungry.” 

“Bless your heart!” exclaimed his 
mother, with a laugh, “I suppose you are 
hungry. Well, it’s some time until supper, 
but I guess I can find you something. Did 
you thank Mr. Armstrong for the hay 
ride?” she asked with a smile and nod at 
the farmer. 

‘ ‘ Oh—er—now—thank you! ’ ’ said 

Trouble politely. 

“You’re welcome, young man,” chuckled 
the farmer. “The next time you want to 
ride with me let me know and I’ll put up a 
lunch for you.” 

There was more laughter and then good- 



78 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


byes were said. The load of hay continued 
on down the road, and Mr. Martin, making 
sure that Trouble was now in the car, turned 
the machine and started back over the road 
toward Mount Major. 

But so much time had been lost, first be¬ 
cause of the chaining of the car to the tree 
and then the hunt for Trouble, that it was 
now late afternoon. 

“I don’t see how we are going to make 
it,” said Mr. Martin to his wife, as they 
drove along. 

4 ‘You mean get to Mount Major before 
dark?” she asked. 

44 Yes. I don’t want to take you into the 
woods with the children after dark—espe¬ 
cially to a strange place.” 

44 Oh, I don’t mind much,” she said. 44 Of 
course it will be quite a trouble, but we may 
get some fun out of it.” 

4 4 It will be lots of fun!” exclaimed Janet, 
who overheard what her father and mother 
were saying. 

44 Like camping out,” added Ted. 

4 4 Camping out is all right when you have 
your camp set up,” returned Mr. Martin, 
with a laugh. 44 But it isn’t much fun to 
make camp after dark in a strange place 



At the Farmhouse 


79 


with three children. So I think we had bet¬ 
ter stay over for the night.*’ 

“Where?” asked Ted. “Do you mean 
camp here in the woods ?” and he motioned 
to the forest that was then on either side 
of the road. 

“Oh, no, we won’t stay here,” his father 
answered. “We’ll go on to the next town 
and stay at the hotel.” 

“We’re not really dressed to stop at a 
fashionable hotel,” objected Mrs. Martin. 

“I guess the hotels around here aren’t 
very fashionable,” laughed her husband. 

But, as it happened, they did not stay at a 
hotel. The automobile was driven along un¬ 
til it came out of the wooded road and was 
speeding along a highway that led past a 
pleasant farm, with its big white house and 
green shutters and barns and outhouses 
clustered near it. 

Just as they were passing the house Mr. 
Martin looked at the motormeter, or ther¬ 
mometer, on the radiator of the car, and 
exclaimed: 

“Something’s wrong!” 

“It is overheating,” said Mrs. Martin. 
“Are you out of water?” For sometimes 
when there is not enough water in the radia- 



80 


The Curlytops in the Woods 


tor of an automobile, what little there is 
boils and turns to steam, and this heat makes 
the red column of alcohol on the tube go 
nearly to the top. It was almost there now. 

“I have plenty of water and oil, ,, said 
Mr. Martin. “It must be something else.” 

He stopped the car and got out to raise 
the hood. Ted also got out, for he knew a 
little about cars and once or twice he had 
seen things that needed fixing almost as 
soon as had his father. 

But this time it was Mr. Martin who saw 
what was wrong. 

“The fan belt is broken,” he said. “The 
fan stopped whirling and that let the water 
get very hot.” 

“Have you a new belt?” asked Ted. 

“Yes, but it will take some little time to 
put it on.” 

“I’m hungry! I want a good supper!” 
suddenly cried Trouble. 

44 Dear me!” exclaimed his mother. “I’m 
afraid we haven’t very much left to eat. I 
counted on being in the bungalow for sup¬ 
per.” 

Mr. Martin appeared to think for a mo¬ 
ment. He looked toward the white farm¬ 
house and seemed to make up his mind. 



At the Farmhouse 


81 


“Wait here,” he said to his family. “As 
long as we are going to put up over night 
I’ll see if they won’t take us in here. It 
will take quite a while for me to put on the 
fan belt, as I’m not used to doing it. By 
that time it would be quite late, and it is 
several miles to the next town where there 
is a hotel.” 

“It would be lovely to stay here,” said 
Mrs. Martin. “But of course we can’t ex¬ 
pect strangers to put themselves out for us.” 

“It will do no harm to ask, at any rate,” 
said Mr. Martin. 

He walked up to the side door of the farm¬ 
house and soon those waiting in the auto¬ 
mobile saw him talking to a pleasant-faced 
woman. Matters seemed to be all right, for 
Mr. Martin called: 

“Come on! This lady has very kindly 
consented to let us stay here over night.” 

“Oh, that is good of you!” exclaimed Mrs. 
Martin, as she advanced with Ted, Janet 
and Trouble, while Lucy began getting out 
the bags. 

“No trouble at all,” was the answer of 
the farmer’s wife. “We have plenty of 
room, and often accommodate auto parties. 



82 The Curly tops in the Woods 

My husband will soon be here. He is Jed 
Pitney.” 

Mrs. Pitney led the Curlytops and the 
others, except Mr. Martin and Lucy, into 
the sitting room. Mr. Martin was going to 
help Lucy bring in the baggage. 

As he was doing this Mr. Pitney came 
in from the barn, where he had gone to 
oversee the milking of the cows by his hired 
man. The situation was explained to the 
farmer by Mr. Martin. Then Mr. Pitney, 
looking sharply at the automobile, said: 

“You must have been carting hay.” He 
pointed to some wisps of the dried fodder 
dangling from the rods that supported the 
top. 

“Oh, that!” laughed Mr. Martin. “No, 
we weren’t exactly carting hay, but we 
passed a load at a tight squeeze, and then 
my youngest boy climbed up on the hay 
wagon and went to sleep. It was Mr. Arm¬ 
strong’s hay.” 

“Silas Armstrong?” asked Mr. Pitney. 

4 4 That was his name, yes. He said he lived 
around here.” 

“I should say he did! Why, he’s a neigh¬ 
bor of mine!” exclaimed Mr. Pitney. 
4 4 Shake hands, Mr. Martin. I feel as if I 



At the Farmhouse 


83 


knew you since youVe met my neighbor Si 
Armstrong on the road. Come right in and 
make yourself at home. Here, give me one 
of the satchels.” 

He helped bring in the baggage, and then, 
in his loud, jolly voice, he told his wife that 
Mr. Martin had met Silas Armstrong with 
a load of hay. This seemed to make them 
better acquainted. 

Mrs. Martin was given a room for herself 
in which Janet and Trouble could sleep, and 
Ted and his father had another room. 

When’s supper going to be ready?” 
asked Trouble, in a loud voice after the 
sleeping arrangements had been made. 

“Hush, dear!” whispered his mother. 

“But I’m hungry! I want my supper!” 
he insisted. 

“And you shall have it, my dear!” 
laughed Mrs. Pitney. “I know what little 
boys want, ’ ’ she went on. 6 6 Bread and j am. ’ ’ 

“Oh, goodie!” cried Trouble, with shin¬ 
ing eyes as he clapped his chubby hands. 

It was a very good meal that was soon 
set before the Curlytops and the others of 
the party. Lucy insisted on being allowed 
to help wait on the table, and this she was 
permitted to do, much to her delight. 



84 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


The meal and the rest afterward in com¬ 
fortable chairs freshened the travelers af¬ 
ter the day’s trip. And after the car had 
been put in Mr. Pitney’s garage—for the 
farmer had an automobile of his own—they 
all sat out on the porch enjoying the pleas¬ 
ant evening. 

After a while Mrs. Pitney, noticing that 
the children were rather restless, said: 

“Wouldn’t you like to go up in the attic 
and play?” 

“Oh, that would be lovely!” cried Janet. 

“Are there any old Indian guns there?” 
asked Ted. 

“None that shoot,” laughed Mrs. Pitney. 
“There are a lot of old-fashioned things 
there, though, that you may play with,” she 
added. “I’ll light a lamp and hang it in a 
safe place where they can’t knock it over, 
for it will be dark before long, and it’s never 
very light in the attic, at best,” she told 
Mrs. Martin. “Let them play in the attic.” 



CHAPTER VIII 

PUN IN THE ATTIC 

With whoops of delight that made the 
old farmhouse ring, the Curlytops and 
Trouble hurried after Mrs. Pitney. She 
smiled and laughed with them. 

“I’m afraid they’ll make you a lot of 
work,” said Mrs. Martin. 

“Oh, I love children,” was the answer. 
“I have raised a family of them myself. 
They won’t do any harm. There’s nothing 
in the attic that can be damaged. And if 
the older ones will look after their little 
brother, there will be no trouble.” 

“That’s his name,”' said Janet, with a 
laugh. 

“Whose name?” asked Mrs. Pitney. 

“His,” and Janet pointed to William. 
“He’ll get into trouble if there’s any way 
at all.” 


85 


86 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


“He chained the auto fast and went to 
sleep on the hay wagon,” added Ted, as they 
climbed the attic stairs. 

“Maybe—now—maybe I did,” admitted 
Trouble, who always got his words a little 
mixed when he was excited. “But now I 
didn’t—I—er—now—I didn’t lost ma’s dia¬ 
mond locket like you did, Jan!” he cried. 

“Oh, dear!” sighed Janet, for that was an 
unhappy memory. 

“Did your mother lose something on this 
trip?” asked Mrs. Pitney. 

“Not on this trip,” explained Ted. “It 
was before we started. My sister and I were 
playing house, and Janet borrowed mother’s 
small diamond locket to dress up with. But 
there was an auto accident out in front and 
we ran to see that, and afterward we 
couldn’t find the locket.” 

“It must have dropped down a crack. 
But we looked everywhere,” said Janet. 
“Oh, I feel so bad about it.” 

“Never mind,” consoled Mrs. Pitney. 
“Maybe it will be found some day.” 

But Janet did not believe it would. 

“And Jim is lost, too,” added Trouble. 

“Who is Jim? Your dog?” asked the 
farmer’s wife. 



Fun in the Attic 


87 


“No. He is a tame crow that does tricks, 
and he’s worth more than a hundred dol¬ 
lars,” explained Ted. “He can stand on 
one leg and make a pop like a cork coming 
from a bottle.” 

“It’s too bad you lost a crow like that,” 
said Mrs. Pitney, as she arranged the lamp 
in a safe place in the attic, where it would 
not be knocked over if the children raced 
about as they were sure to do. “One of our 
neighbors had a tame crow once,” she went 
on. “It could say a few words, but I never 
heard it pull corks.” 

“Jim wasn’t our crow,” Janet hastened 
to explain. “He belongs to Mr. Jenk, the 
man who lives next door. But he’ll give us 
ten dollars if we find Jim.” 

“Then I hope you’ll find him soon,” said 
Mrs. Pitney. “Now you may play with any¬ 
thing you find up here,” she went on, “but 
I am going to ask you to put everything 
back just where you found it.” 

“Oh, we’ll do that,” promised Ted. 

“And we’ll put back anything that 
Trouble leaves out, for sometimes he for¬ 
gets,” said Janet. 

“No, I put back t’ings myself!” insisted 
Trouble. 



88 The Curly tops in the Woods 

“All right,’’ laughed Ted. “See that you 
do.” 

As Mrs. Pitney had said, there were many 
old-fashioned things in the attic for the chil¬ 
dren to have fun with. There were moulds 
for making candles, which were burned be¬ 
fore we had kerosene lamps or electric 
lights. These candle moulds were a number 
of tin tubes fastened to a frame, and Mrs. 
Pitney remained up in the attic long enough 
to tell the children how candles used to be 
made. 

“My grandmother used to make them,” 
she said. “She would set this mould, which 
made a dozen candles at once, down in a tub 
of water to keep it cool. Then she would 
pour the melted tallow into each tin tube 
where, before that, some cotton wicks had 
been hung. The melted tallow flowed around 
the wick, which was hung just in the centre, 
by a little stick across the top of the mould. 
Then when the tallow was cold the candles 
could be lifted out.” 

“Did they make wax candles the same 
way?” asked Janet. 

“Yes, only they used melted beeswax in¬ 
stead of tallow,” said Mrs. Pitney. “Of 
course the wax candles were a little nicer 



Fun in the Attic 


89 


than those made of tallow, and they didn’t 
smell np the room so. But I don’t know that 
the wax ones gave any better light.” 

“It must have been fun to use candles,” 
said Janet. 

“Not as much fun as it sounds,” answered 
the farmer’s wife. “They didn’t give half 
as good light as a kerosene lamp.” 

“We have lickerish lights at our house,” 
said Trouble. 

“Lickerish lights?” exclaimed Mrs. Pit¬ 
ney. 

“He means electric lights,” explained 
Janet. “Oh, what’s that big wheel over 
there?” she asked, pointing to one in a cor¬ 
ner of the attic. 

“That’s a spinning wheel,” was the re¬ 
ply. “In the olden days my grandmother 
spun the woolen yarn that was woven into 
cloth or knit into socks.” 

“May we play with it?” asked Ted. 

“Yes. It isn’t all there,” said Mrs. Pit¬ 
ney. “Only the big wheel is left, but you 
can turn it and have fun, I suppose.” 

“We’ll play engine,” decided Ted, as he 
helped Mrs. Pitney move the old-fashioned 
spinning wheel out into the middle of the 
attic. 



90 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


Then Janet saw a smaller wheel somewhat 
like the larger. 

“Was that for little girls to spin yarn 
on when their mothers spun on the big 
wheel V 1 she asked. 

“ No, ” was the answer. 16 The little wheel 
is for spinning flax, which is different from 
wool. Flax is a plant that grows. It has 
blue flowers. In the olden days our grand¬ 
mothers took the stalks of the flax plant, 
wet them, pounded them, and pulled the fine 
fibers into threads. These very fine threads 
were then spun together by the spindle on 
the small flax wheel, and from the threads 
linen cloth was woven at the mill.” 

“If we could take the big spinning wheel 
and the flax wheel I could put them together 
and have a dandy engine!” said Ted, with 
sparkling eyes. 

“You may take them,” said Mrs. Pitney. 

With Janet’s help Ted set the two old- 
fashioned spinning wheels together. The 
larger one had a rim around it over an inch 
wide, and the smaller, or flax wheel, had two 
grooves around its rim. 

“They used to put two belts of string 
on the small wheel,” said Mrs. Pitney, “and 
then the string belts ran to two different 



Fun in the Attic 


91 


parts of the spindle,” and she showed them 
about it. In this way one spindle went fas¬ 
ter than the other, for they were of different 
sizes. 

“My daddy—he has a fan belt on his auto 
—but it busted!” broke out Trouble. 

“Yes, I heard about that,” laughed Mrs. 
Pitney. “Well, now you may play with the 
spinning wheels,” she told Teddy. 

He found some string for a belt and ran 
it from the large wheel to the smaller. Then 
when Ted turned the large wheel with his 
hand the flax wheel also went around, one 
on one side of the attic and one on the other 
side. 

“We’ll play steamboat,” decided Ted. 
“I’ll be the engineer.” 

“I’ll be the captain!” cried Janet. 

“What I goin’ to be?” j Trouble wanted 
to know. 

“You can be a passenger,” said Ted. 
“You can ride.” 

“Don’t want to wide! I wants to be a 
cap’n!” protested Trouble. 

“Oh, it’s lots of fun to be a passenger,” 
soothed Janet. “Passengers can eat when¬ 
ever they want to, but the captain and en¬ 
gineer have to wait until the whistle blows.” 



92 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


“You got suffin for me to eat?” asked 
Trouble. 

“I’ll get you cookies,” offered Janet, for 
she felt sure Mrs. Pitney would give her 
some. 

“Get some for us, too,” suggested Ted to 
his sister, as he tried the string belt of his 
“engine” and found that it revolved the 
wheels in fine fashion. 

“I’ll get cookies for all of us,” offered 
Janet. 

“No! No!” cried Trouble. “Only pass- 
jars eat cookies.” 

“Well, we won’t eat until the whistle 
blows,” agreed Ted. But he made up his 
mind that he would himself blow a make- 
believe whistle as soon as Janet came back 
with the cookies. 

The little Curlytop girl had no trouble in 
getting Mrs. Pitney to give her some cook¬ 
ies, and with these Janet went back to the 
attic. Ted had placed two chairs in the 
middle of the attic floor between the two 
old-fashioned spinning wheels. One of the 
chairs was a “cabin” for Passenger Trouble. 
The other was the pilot house where Janet 
stood to steer the boat. 

“All aboard!” cried Engineer Teddy, as 



Fun in the Attic 


93 


he stood with one hand on the spokes of the 
big wheel, ready to turn it. Ted soon found 
that if he turned the big wheel, the small 
flax wheel would spin much faster than the 
one he turned. This was because of the dif¬ 
ference in size. If Ted had turned the flax 
wheel by hand the larger wheel would have 
moved more slowly. 

“All aboard!” cried Teddy again. 

“You mustn’t say that,” objected Janet. 
“That’s for the captain to say.” 

“All right—say it,” agreed Teddy. 

“All a-board!” yelled Janet. 

“You don’t say it as good as I do, but I 
guess it will be good enough,” said Ted. 
“Did you hear it, Trouble?” he asked. 

“Yep. I heard her,” was the answer. 

“Then why don’t you get on board—in 
your cabin?” Ted wanted to know. 

“Got to have cookie first so I can eat,” 
said William. “Passjars eats all time!” 
And not until Janet gave him a cookie 
would he get on the make-believe steamboat. 

Teddy made noises like steam puffing out. 
He turned slowly at first the big wheel, and 
the one on the flax spinner began to go 
around and around. Paster and faster it 



94 


The Curlytops in the Woods 


went, while Janet turned an old peek meas¬ 
ure she had found for the steering wheel. 

Trouble did not pay much attention to 
anything except eating his cookie. He sat 
in the chair, which was his “cabin,” picking 
up even the crumbs that fell. He seemed 
to be very hungry. 

“Toot! Toot!” suddenly called Ted. 

“Dis for me to get off?” asked William. 

“No, that’s the whistle for me and Janet 
to eat our cookies,” Teddy answered. 
“Don’t you s’pose we get hungry same as 
you?” 

“All right,” calmly agreed Trouble. “I 
eat again, too,” and he pulled a second 
cookie from his pocket. ‘ ‘1 eat when whistle 
blows,” he announced. 

“Don’t bother him—-let him eat when he 
wants to,” whispered Janet to Ted. 

After a while Trouble became tired of 
sitting in a chair, even if he could eat cook¬ 
ies whenever he wished, and he decided he 
did not want to play steamboat any more. 
Teddy wouldn’t let him spin either of the 
wheels for fear he might break them. 

But the Curlytops played together, and 
finally Janet got Ted to let her be “engi¬ 
neer.” 



Fun in the Attic 


95 


“For,” she said, “if women can vote, and 
I’m going to when I grow up, they can be 
engineers on a steamboat.” 

“Not real they can’t!” declared Ted. 

“Well, they can make believe, so there!” 

“Maybe make believe,” Ted conceded, 
and he let Janet take his place while he took 
hers. 

For a time they forgot about Trouble, so 
interested were they in watching the spin¬ 
ning wheels revolve, one turning the other. 
Then, all at once, through the attic re¬ 
sounded a jingle of bells. 

“Santa Claus! Santa Claus!” cried a 
voice they knew to be that of Trouble. “I 
found Santa Claus bells!” 

He came staggering out from a dark cor¬ 
ner of the attic with a leather strap of sleigh 
bells dragging after him. 

“Where did you get them?” asked Janet. 

“Back under the roof,” answered 
Trouble. “Aren’t they Santa Claus bells?” 

“They sound like them, anyhow,” ad¬ 
mitted Ted, for the bells gave a merry 
jingle. 

But afterward Mrs. Pitney said the bells 
were those her husband’s father used when 
he went sleighriding in the winter. The 



96 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


bells were strapped around the horse and 
jingled when he trotted over the white snow, 
pulling the cutter after him. 

It was all right for Trouble to believe 
they were the bells of Santa Claus, and 
really they sounded just like Christmas 
chimes. 

Trouble played with the bells awhile, and 
then wandered off to look for something else. 
Janet, too, tired of the spinning wheels, 
though Ted did not, and Janet wandered 
into another corner of the attic. 

It was not until Ted thought of something 
new to play with the big and little wheels 
that he looked for his sister. 

6 6 Janet! Janet! ’ ’ he called. ‘ ‘ Where are 
you V 9 The attic was cut up by many gables 
and all of it could not be seen from any one 
point. “Where are you, Jan?” cried Ted. 

A banging sound answered him and then 
the voice of his sister cried: 

‘‘Oh, I’m locked in! I’m locked in! Help 
me out, Ted!” 



CHAPTER IX 


DOWN THE HILL 

Teddy, at first, did not know whether his 
sister Janet was playing a joke on him or 
not. The Curlytops often did play jokes, 
for they were just like you children. And 
more than once Janet had fooled Ted in 
this way. So, thinking for a moment that 
it was a joke, Ted answered and said: 

“Oh, come on, Jan! Quit your fooling! 
I know a new game to play with the spin¬ 
ning wheels.” 

“I play wif you!” offered Trouble, com¬ 
ing from a dark corner of the attic, where 
he had become covered with cobwebs. 

And then Jan broke out again in a wail¬ 
ing cry: 

“Teddy! Teddy! I can’t get out! I’m 
locked in!” 

This time Ted knew it was no joke. Jan’s 
voice showed that she was frightened and 
was crying. 

The Curlytop boy looked all around the 

97 


98 


The Curly tops in the Woods 


attic. It had in it no closet where Janet 
might have gone in and closed the door after 
her, thus locking herself in. And if there 
was no closet where could she be? That is 
what Ted wanted to know. 

Again came that wailing cry from Janet. 

‘‘Teddy! Teddy! Get me out!” 

The Curlytop boy was very much puzzled 
and not a little frightened. Only a little 
while before Janet had been close beside him 
playing with the spinning wheels. Then, it 
seemed but a minute, Ted turned his back 
to make up some new game, and Janet had 
disappeared. Now she was locked in. But 
where ? 

“Janet! Janet! Where is you?” called 
Trouble. 

That is what Ted should have asked. For 
right away came the answer. 

“I’m in this big trunk, Teddy. The lid 
fell down and I can’t push it up and I can’t 
get out.” 

“Oh! In a trunk!” yelled Ted. Now he 
understood. And this was why Janet’s voice 
sounded so muffled and far away. It came 
from inside a big trunk, of which there were 
three or four in the attic. It was as if she 
had been speaking from down in the cellar. 



Down the Hill 


99 


Teddy did not stop to ask how Janet had 
gotten inside the trunk. There was time 
enough for that after he had gotten her out 
—if he could. He sprang away from the 
spinning wheels and hurried over to the big 
old-fashioned trunks. 

“Are you in this one, Jan?” he asked, as 
he started to raise the lid of one. 

“No, I’m in here,” came the answer. 

Teddy sprang to the next trunk. Just as 
he was tugging on the lid, which seemed 
tightly fastened, Mrs. Martin came up the 
stairs. 

Mrs. Martin saw what Teddy was about 
to do and she called to him: 

“Teddy! Teddy! Don’t open that trunk. 
Mrs. Pitney won’t like it if you open her 
trunks. She was kind enough to let you 
play in the attic, but you mustn’t open 
trunks!” 

“But I got to, Mother!” exclaimed Teddy. 

“Why do you have to ?” 

“ ’Cause Janet’s inside!” 

“Janet inside that trunk?” cried Mrs. 
Mar tin. “What sort of game is that you 
are playing ? You shouldn’t have shut Janet 
up in a trunk.” 



100 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“I didn’t, Mother!” Teddy answered. 
“She got in herself and-” 

But this delay was too much for Janet. 
She could hear the talk between her mother 
and Teddy. She could also hear Trouble 
shuffling around the attic floor. And Janet 
called: 

‘ ‘ Oh, let me out! Let me out! I’m smoth¬ 
ering!” 

Mrs. Martin did not stop to ask any more 
questions. She fairly leaped across the 
floor and, catching hold of the trunk cover, 
tried to lift it up. But it would not come. 

“It’s caught!” explained Teddy. “That’s 
why Jan couldn’t get it up.” 

For a fearful moment or two Mrs. Martin 
feared that the trunk had locked with a 
spring catch. And she was alarmed lest 
there be no key to fit it, or that the key 
could not be found. In that case they would 
have to chop the trunk open to get Janet out. 

But when Mrs. Martin looked at the lock 
of the trunk she saw that it was merely 
caught, and not fastened with a spring catch. 
In an instant she pulled the piece of brass 
forward and then, with Ted’s help, she 
raised the lid of the trunk. 

There was Janet, all crumpled up, lying 



Down the Hill 


101 


on a pile of old-fashioned dresses. The little 
Curlytop girl’s face was very red, and it was 
dirty where she had cried and then rubbed 
her hands over her cheeks, her hands being 
soiled with dust from the old spinning 
wheels. 

“Oh, Janet! Why did you hide in the 
trunk?” asked Mrs. Martin, helping her 
out. “You might have smothered in there!” 

“I—I ’most did,” sobbed Janet. 

“Did you put her in there, Teddy?” asked 
his mother. 

“Oh, no,” he answered. 

“I got in myself,” Janet hastened to say. 
“I opened the trunk to look at some of the 
dresses, for Mrs. Pitney said we might. And 
I leaned over to see those on the bottom, 
and I fell in. I slipped all the way in and 
then the lid fell down and I couldn’t get 
it up.” 

“That was too bad,” said Mrs. Martin 
kindly. “It’s lucky some one was up here 
with you or you might have been in the 
trunk a long time before you were let out. 
Old trunks like this sometimes fasten with 
a spring catch that is hard to open.” 

“I’ll close this so Trouble won’t get in,” 
said Ted as he lowered the lid. 



102 The Curly tops in the Woods 

“I no hide in any trunks,” the little 
fellow announced. “I got better place as 
that. Come see,” he added, tugging at his 
mother’s hand to lead her into the corner 
where he had been rummaging. 

“No, I don’t believe I want to go there. 
I’d get covered with cobwebs like you!” 
laughed Mrs. Martin. “But come, children. 
It’s time you were in bed. Put things back 
where you found them and we’ll go down¬ 
stairs.” 

The spinning wheels were set back against 
the beams under the sloping roof of the 
old-fashioned attic. Trouble wanted to 
take the string of sleigh bells down to bed 
with him, but this could not be allowed. 
Janet gave one last look at the trunk which 
had been her prison for a short time and 
went with her mother and Ted. 

“Did you have fun?” asked Mrs. Pitney, 
as they entered the sitting room. 

“Yes, they had fun and a sort of adven¬ 
ture,” answered Mrs. Martin, as she told 
about the trunk. 

“Dear me! That might have been a sad 
accident, ’ ’ said the farmer’s wife. ‘ ‘ I never 
thought of your tumbling into any of those 
old trunks or I would have told you children 



Down the Hill 


103 


not to open them. Not that you could do 
any harm/’ she added, “for the dresses are 
so old-fashioned that no one would think of 
wearing them, unless at some Hallowe’en 
party. But I’m glad you got safely out, 
Janet.” 

“So’m I,” agreed the little girl. 

Soon after this the Curlytops were in 
bed. There was no need of any specially 
early start in the morning, Mr. Martin said, 
as they were not many miles from Mount 
Major, where they were to stay in the woods 
for several weeks. 

“We can easily get to the camp bungalow 
by noon, if we start from here at nine 
o’clock,” said Mr. Martin to his wife that 
night. “We will let the children sleep as 
long as they wish.” 

The night passed quietly, except that 
Trouble walked in his sleep, an occasional 
happening, and when his mother asked him 
what he wanted he answered: 

“I get sleigh bells for Santa Claus.” 

He was thinking of his play up in the 
attic. 

After a good breakfast the automobile 
was brought around to the door and once 
more the Curlytops prepared to travel on. 



104 The Curly tops in the Woods 


Many thanks were expressed to Mr. and 
Mrs. Pitney for their kindness in keeping 
the family over night. 

“And when yon get settled in your wood 
camp drive over and see us some time,” in¬ 
vited the farmer’s wife. 

“I will,” promised Mrs. Martin. “And 
you must come and see us.” 

“We will if I ever get any time away 
from the farm,” laughed Mr. Pitney. 

Off started the automobile with the Curly- 
tops and the others. In a few hours they 
would be in the woods and then, thought 
Ted, Janet and Trouble, the real fun would 
begin. For they had been counting on hav¬ 
ing many good times in camp. 

The roads, now, were not as good as they 
had been at first, becoming rather rough 
after leaving the Pitney farm. But Mr. 
Martin was a good driver and sent the car 
along at a good pace. He had been over 
the road some time before, and thought he 
knew the way. But once, coming to a place 
where two roads forked, he stopped as if 
puzzled. 

“What’s the matter?” asked his wife. 
“Don’t you know which way to go?” 

“Not exactly,” he answered. 



Down the Hill 


105 


4 ‘Why don’t you look at the road book?” 
suggested Ted. 

“Here it is,” offered Jan, for this auto 
guide was always carried in the car, and 
now she took it from one of the side pockets. 

Mr. Martin turned the pages and looked 
at the maps, but he shook his head. 

“This doesn’t help any,” he remarked. 
“This road doesn’t seem to be down on the 
map.” 

“Do you think we came the wrong way?” 
Mrs. Martin wanted to know. 

“Are we lost?” asked Janet. 

“Oh, no,” her father said, with a laugh. 
“But I want to take the shortest road to 
our place. We have been delayed enough. 
I was to meet some of the lumbermen there 
at noon, and if I’m not on hand they may go 
away and not come back until to-morrow. 
If there was only a sign-board or some one 
to ask.” 

But there was no sign and not a house 
was in sight. The nearest dwelling was 
about a mile back. Of course Mr. Martin 
could have turned and gone back there to 
ask which road to take, but he did not want 
to do this if he could avoid it. 



106 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“I wish some one would come along,” he 
remarked. 

And then, as if in answer to his wish, the 
sound of wheels and of a horse trotting, 
was heard down one of the roads. 

“Some one is coming,” announced Janet. 

A moment later a farmer riding in a one- 
horse wagon came driving along. 

“Which way to Mount Major, if you 
please?” asked Mr. Martin. 

“Who-a-ah!” drawled the farmer slowly, 
as he pulled his horse to a stop. “Mount 
Major?” he went on. “Wa’al, you kin take 
either road,” he said. 

“Which one| is the best?” Mr. Martin 
wanted to know. 

The farmer seemed to be considering this 
for a moment. 

“Both of ’em’s prutty wuss!” he replied. 
“They’s both bad enough, though not so 
much now’s wet weather.” 

“Well, if both roads are bad,” said Mr. 
Martin, with a smile at the farmer’s odd 
talk and ways, “which road is the shorter?” 

This appeared to be another puzzle. He 
scratched his head and finally answered: 

“Wa’al, ef anythin’ the one I jest come 



Down the Hill 


107 


over’s a leetle mite shorter, an’ ’tain’t so 
much at that.” 

“Even a little difference will save us 
some time,” said Mr. Martin. “I’m much 
obliged to you.” 

“ Don’t mention it! G ’lang! ’ ’ the farmer 
called to his horse, and he pulled to one side 
to get around the automobile which had 
stopped in the fork of the road. 

“We’ll take the right hand road,” said 
Mr. Martin. 

“I hope, later on, it won’t turn out that 
we should have taken the left,” said Mrs. 
Martin. 

“Why, do you think something might 
happen?” asked Janet. 

“Maybe we’ll get lost and have to stay 
in the woods all night!” remarked Teddy. 
And he said it as though he would rather 
like such a thing to happen. 

“Oh, no, I don’t believe we’ll have any 
trouble,” said Mr. Martin. “I could have 
gone around by Parkersburg, and we would 
have had good roads all the way. But it 
was thirty miles farther and I thought we 
would save time this way. Well, we’ll see 
what happens.” 

At first the road the farmer had told them 



108 The Curly tops in the Woods 


to take was fairly good, though there were 
stretches of sand where they could not go 
fast. Then they struck a patch of woods 
through which the road wound in and out 
like some great snake. The trees met in 
arches overhead. 

“This is a very narrow road,” remarked 
Mr. Martin, when they had traveled it for 
a mile or so. “I hope we don’t meet any 
other autos or wagons. We’d have hard 
work to pass them.” 

But, so far, they had met and passed 
no other vehicles. Soon, however, the road, 
instead of being on the level, began to slope 
downhill, and it was rather a steep hill. 

“Guess I’d better put on brakes here,” 
said Mr. Martin. 

He began to do this, but he had no sooner 
started down the hill than he found the 
brakes were not holding well. The auto¬ 
mobile rolled along too fast. 

“Still there may be no danger if we don’t 
meet another car or wagon,” thought Mr. 
Martin. 

However, danger was ahead. A moment 
later Janet cried and pointed to a wagon 
going down the hill in front of them. It 
was a wagon piled to the top with bean 



Down the Hill 


109 


poles, and as the road was narrow and the 
wagon was wide there was hardly room for 
Mr. Martin to pass. And yet, tug as he did 
at the brakes, he could not stop the car. 

“Pull over! Pull to one side and I’ll go 
past you!” he called to the driver of the 
wagon. 

“I can’t!” was the answer. “There isn’t 
room. Hold your auto back until I can get 
to a wider place!” 

Again Mr. Martin pulled at the brake, 
but still the car rolled on. 

“Oh, we’re going to bunk!” murmured 
Janet. 

“Good land ob massy!” cried Lucy, as she 
clutched Trouble to her. i 6 Oh, mah gracious 
goodness!” 



CHAPTEE X 


IN THE WOODS 

Mr. Martin heard the murmurs of those 
in the automobile with him, and he knew 
that they might become much frightened. 

Truly there was danger of a collision with 
the load of poles, as there was not room 
to pass on the narrow road. And, so far, 
he had not been able to stop his car. But 
it was going slowly, for, though the brakes 
did not hold it completely, they held it some¬ 
what. 

‘‘If we bump we won’t bump very hard,” 
said Ted to his sister. 

Meanwhile the man driving the load of 
poles which he had cut in the woods, was 
doing his best to find some place along the 
narrow road where he could pull to one side. 
The Curlytops were near enough now to see 
that one of the rear wheels of the wagon 

was sliding along in an iron “shoe.” 
no 


In the Woods 


111 


This is what is often used in the country, 
and on heavy lumber or stone wagons, to 
keep them from going downhill too fast. 
The “shoe,” as it is called, is made so that 
the wheel fits in it. The front of the shoe is 
fastened by a chain to the body of the wagon, 
and thus one wheel is dragged along the 
ground, acting as a brake. It is just the 
same as when you may be coasting along 
on one roller skate, you drag the other foot 
to act as a brake. 

Nearer and nearer the automobile of the 
Curlytops came to the wagon load of poles. 
And just when it seemed as if they must 
“bunk,” as Janet called it, though perhaps 
the “bunk” would not be very hard—just 
then the driver, who was walking beside his 
horse, with the reins in his hand, came to a 
wider place in the road. 

“I’ll turn in here and you can pass me!” 
he called. 

“All right—thank you!” shouted Mr. 
Martin. 

Carefully he guided the automobile past 
the load of poles. There was just about 
room enough to pass, and not much more. 
Soon after that the hill ended and they 
were on level ground again. 



112 The Curlytops in the Woods 


“Mah good land ob goodness, Ah’s glad 
dat’s ended !” sighed Lucy. 

“I guess we’re all glad,” said Mrs. Mar¬ 
tin. “You must have your brakes looked 
after, Dick!” 

“I will,” he said. “I thought they were 
all right. Some sand must have gotten in 
them from the roads. But now we’re all 
right.” 

They were driving along a pleasant road 
through the woods. All danger seemed to 
be over, and Mr. Martin said he wished he 
had taken the other way instead of the one 
the farmer had told about as being the 
“least mite shorter.” 

“Sometimes the longest way is the best,” 
said Mr. Martin. “But I think we’re all 
right now.” 

And they were, for in about half an hour 
longer they were within sight of Mount 
Major, as it was called, the place where Mr. 
Martin was to set up the store for the lum¬ 
bermen. 

“Oh, what a lovely place!” cried Janet, 
as they caught a glimpse of it from a hill 
just before reaching it. 

“Good place to fish,” observed Ted. “I 
see a lake and a river.” 



In the Woods 


113 


“I fish, too!” cried Trouble. 

i ‘Doan yo’ fall in!” warned Lucy, hug¬ 
ging the little fellow, who, in spite of his 
mischief, was her special favorite. 

“Yes, there is plenty of water around 
here, ’ ’ said Mr. Martin. ‘ ‘ There needs to be 
on account of the lumber. Well,” he went 
on, “I don’t see any of the men here yet. I 
guess I’m in plenty of time. I was afraid 
I’d be late. Now we’ll unpack and get some¬ 
thing to eat. I suppose you’re hungry, 
aren’t you, Curlytops?” he asked, with a 
laugh. 

“Terrible!” announced Ted. “Can we 
cook dinner over a camp fire?” 

“Maybe, some time,” his father said, 
“But I think there’s an oil stove in the 
bungalow and that will be better when we’re 
in a hurry.” 

“Where’s buffalo?” asked Trouble, look¬ 
ing around. “I don’t see any buffalo. Has 
him got a hump on his back ?” 

“You’re thinking of a camel!” laughed 
Janet. 

“No, a buffalo had a sort of hump up near 
his head,” remarked Teddy. “But what 
makes him ask about a buffalo, anyhow?” 

“He means hung alow —the place where 



114 The Curly tops in the Woods 

we’re going to live,” explained Mrs. Martin 
with a smile. “ There it is, children, over 
under the trees. Oh, what a fine place!” 

There was a driveway at one side of the 
bungalow, which was made of logs, and, a 
little farther on, a shed where the auto¬ 
mobile could be kept. Leading down from 
the front door was a path, and this extended 
to a lake, the waters of which were as blue as 
the sky. Flowing into this lake, not far 
from the bungalow, was a small river. 

All around the lake, along the river and 
surrounding the bungalow were trees, trees, 
trees—so many that the Curlytops never 
could have counted them all. And here and 
there, in cleared places where the trees had 
been cut down, were rough buildings, made 
from logs and ‘‘slabs,” that is, half-rounded 
pieces of wood that are sawed from logs to 
make the timbers square and true. 

Over the door of one of the buildings was 
a sign: 


GENERAL STORE 

Seeing this Janet cried: 

“Is that where you are going to keep 
store, Daddy?” 



In the Woods 


115 


“I’m not exactly going to keep store/’ her 
father replied. “I came up here to get the 
store started and to show the men how to 
run it. They will be cutting lumber here the 
rest of the summer and all winter, and they 
will want to buy things from the store, as 
some of the lumbermen are bringing their 
families with them.” 

As yet none of the lumbermen had arrived, 
for the camp was not to open for a few days. 
It was needful to start the store first so the 
men would have something to eat when they 
should arrive. 

Piled about the building that was marked 
with the store sign were many boxes and 
barrels. The Curlytops had seen such pack¬ 
ages before at their father’s store in 
Cresco, and they knew what the boxes and 
barrels held—sugar, canned goods, dried 
fruits, tea, coffee, oatmeal, overalls, hats and 
all the things that go to make up a general 
store. All these goods must be taken out of 
their packages and arranged on the shelves. 

“Couldn’t we help in the store, Daddy V 1 
asked Ted, as his father started toward the 
bungalow, to open it with a key he had. 

“Oh, yes, I guess so,” was the answer. 



116 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“I expect a couple of men up to do the heavy; 
work. They ought to be here now.” 

The bungalow was opened and the Curly- 
top family went inside. The more they saw 
of the place the better they liked it. There 
was a large living-room with a great fire¬ 
place, a dining-room and a kitchen on the 
first floor, and upstairs were bedrooms. 

“ And there are dishes in the pantry, too!” 
announced Janet, as she came back from 
having looked around. 

“Is there anything to put on the dishes?” 
asked Ted, laughing. “I mean anything to 
eat?” 

“That’s what I want to know, too,” 
laughed Mr. Martin. 

“I’ll soon have something ready,” prom¬ 
ised Mrs. Martin. “Come, Lucy, we must 
feed these hungry animals.” 

“I am bear—that’s what I is!” cried 
Trouble, and he pretended to growl like a 
bear to show how hungry he was. 

“I’ll go over and take a look at the store,” 
announced Mr. Martin. “There’s wood 
already cut for the fire,” he said. 

“We’ll attend to things,” said Mrs. Mar¬ 
tin. “Just bring in the food from the auto 
and we’ll soon have a meal ready.” 



In the Woods 


117 


Mr. Martin and Ted brought in the bas¬ 
kets of victuals that had been brought along, 
and then the Curlytop boy and his father, 
with Trouble trailing after them, went 
toward the building that soon was to be 
made into a store for the lumbermen to 
trade at. Janet remained in the bungalow 
to help her mother and Lucy. 

Mr. Martin had a key to the store build¬ 
ing and, opening it, he and the boys went 
inside. All there was to be seen now were 
empty shelves and counters. 

“But this will be a busy place in a few 
days,” said Mr. Martin. “If those men 
were here now I could put them to opening 
the boxes and barrels. Maybe they’ll come 
after dinner.” 

He went outside to count how many boxes 
and barrels there were piled up around the 
steps of the store, and while he was doing 
this Ted and Trouble roamed about the 
clearing in the woods where the different 
buildings were put up. Some were for the 
men to sleep in, another was a kitchen, 
where food would be prepared, and at the 
sight of one large building, with a smoke¬ 
stack sticking through the roof, Ted cried: 

“Oh, is that the sawmill?” 



118 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“That’s the sawmill,” his father an¬ 
swered. “But you must never go in there 
unless I am with you. It’s dangerous.” 

“Couldn’t we go with mother?” Ted 
wanted to know. 

“Well, yes, with your mother. But there 
is a very big saw in there to cut up the logs, 
and it would not only cut off your finger, if 
you got too close, but it would do worse. So 
keep away!” 

Ted and Trouble promised that they 
would, and they teased their father so hard 
to take them to the sawmill now that, after 
he had looked over the groceries and other 
supplies, he consented. 

Leading from the mill down into the lake 
was a sort of small railroad track, sloping 
like a little hill. And in the middle of the 
track, and extending up into the mill, was 
a big chain. 

“What’s that for?” asked Ted. 

“That chain pulls the logs up from the 
river, along this inclined runway, into 
the mill, ’ ’ answered Mr. Martin. ‘ 4 Once the 
logs are in the mill they are put on a sort of 
platform, or on a traveling cradle, and then 
machinery pushes them close to the big buzz 
saw and they are cut up into boards.” 



In the Woods 


119 


“Is it a cat’s cradle?” Trouble wanted to 
know. 

“Well, not exactly,” laughed Mr. Martin. 
“Come in and I’ll show you. The mill isn’t 
running now, but it soon will be.” 

“Does the chain pull the logs up all by 
itself?” Ted asked. 

“No,” his father replied. “A steam en¬ 
gine winds the chain up on what is called a 
drum, just as a rope is wound up on a der¬ 
rick. In fact, this runway is like a derrick, 
only it is stretched out on the ground instead 
of being up in the air.” 

The boys were much interested in looking 
over the machinery of the lumber mill, and 
they wished for the day to come when it 
would start—when the engine would puff 
and clouds of smoke and steam would pour 
from the big stack in the roof. 

“I think I hear your mother calling,” said 
Mr. Martin, after a while. “We’d better 
have something to eat.” 

Ted and Trouble had been so eager to look 
around that for a time they had forgotten 
about being hungry. However, as their 
father now spoke of it they hurried on to 
the bungalow. In the door stood Lucy, 



120 The Curlytops in the Woods 


beating on the bottom of a tin pan with a 
big spoon. 

i ‘Dish yeah am de dinnah gong,” she 
explained. 

“Hurray!” cried Teddy, for he felt so 
glad and happy at coming to camp in the 
woods that he wanted to stand on his head. 

Mrs. Martin, with the help of Janet and 
Lucy, had gotten a fine meal ready, and they 
were all so hungry that they greatly en¬ 
joyed it. When it was almost over Janet, 
looking from the open door out toward the 
lake, saw a boat approaching, in which were 
two men. 

“Oh, two tramps are coming!” she mur¬ 
mured. “Will you give them something to 
eat, Mother?” 

Mr. Martin looked to where his little 
daughter pointed. 

“Those aren’t tramps,” he said. 

“They have terribly ragged clothes on,” 
said Janet. 

“You mustn’t think because a man wears 
old and ragged clothes that he is always a 
tramp,” went on Mr. Martin. “I think 
those are the two lumbermen who are com¬ 
ing to help me set up the store. And on 
account of their rough work, lumber- 



In the Woods 


121 


men cannot go about dressed up. Yes, 
they’re lumbermen,” he said, as he saw the 
two step from the boat, carrying their axes 
and some big hooks, with long, heavy han¬ 
dles, by which logs are turned over and put 
into place. 

44 Is this Mr. Martin?” asked one of the 
men, as the father of the Curlytops walked 
down the path toward the lake to meet them. 

44 That’s my name,” was the answer. 

4 4 Well, we were sent to help you in the 
store,” went on one of the men. 44 The rest 
of the crowd will be over to-morrow. My 
name is Jack Nestor and this is my partner, 
Henry Hart,” he concluded. 

44 Glad to know you,” replied Mr. Martin. 
4 4 Well, there is plenty to do, and the sooner 
we get started the better. Come on, I’ll 
show you what’s to be done.” 

While Mr. Martin was busy with those 
who were to be his helpers, and while Mrs. 
Martin, Lucy and Janet were clearing away 
the dinner things, Ted and Trouble wan¬ 
dered off through the woods. It was a most 
delightful place, Ted decided. 

44 The best one I’ve ever been to on vaca¬ 
tion,” he said. 

Trouble, too, seemed to like it, running 



122 The Curly tops in the Woods 


here and there in the woods. Then the little 
fellow had one of his many ideas. 

4 ‘Can you make me a whistle?” he asked 
his brother. ‘ 1 1 want a whistle.’ ’ 

“Yes, I guess I can make you a willow 
whistle/ 7 said Ted, as he took out his knife. 
“There’s a willow tree growing over there.” 
He pointed to one near the bank of the lake, 
and soon he and Trouble were sitting on a 
mossy log under the drooping willow tree 
while Ted cut a branch and was fashioning 
it into a whistle for his brother. 

Ted cut the bark around and pounded it 
to soften it so it could be slipped off, for this 
must be done if a whistle is rightly made. 
Ted used the handle of his knife to pound 
the bark lightly. Then he laid his knife 
down on the log and began to twist off the 
piece of bark. 

While waiting for his brother to do this 
Trouble had wandered about the little clear¬ 
ing under the willow tree. Before Ted 
knew it Trouble was out of his sight, and, 
hearing the little fellow tramping in the 
underbrush, Ted started up after him. 

“Here, come back!” he called to Trouble. 

Trouble was headed for the lake, and he 
had been told he must not go there alone. 



In the Woods 


123 


“Come back here, you little tyke!” cried 
Ted. 4 4 First you know you ’ll fall in and I ’ll 
have to fish you out.” 

4 ‘Aw right, I come back,” agreed Trouble, 
stopping short. He feared if he did not 
mind he would get no whistle. “I just go to 
see maybe if fish in lake,” he said. 

“You can’t tell by looking at a lake if it 
has fish in it or not,” said Teddy. “Now 
you stay by me if you want that whistle.” 

As the boys started back toward the log 
on which they had been sitting, they saw a 
strange sight. 

“Look! Look!” cried Trouble, pointing 
with a chubby finger toward the log. “Look 
at black bird takin’ my whistle!” 

“No, he isn’t taking your whistle, I have 
that here!” said Teddy. “But it’s a crow 
and he’s after something. Oh, he’s got my 
knife!” he cried a moment later, as the big, 
black bird rose from the log, with something 
glittering held fast in his bill. 



CHAPTER XI 


TROUBLE IN THE STORE 

c ‘ Caw ! Caw! Caw! ’ ’ came a hoarse cry, 
as the black bird fluttered up off the log, 
carrying away Ted’s bright and glittering 
knife, for crows like to take bright things, 
you know. 

‘ 1 Caw! Caw! Caw! ’ 1 again sounded the 
cry. 

Then Ted and Trouble noticed that it was 
not the crow that had the knife that 
was doing the cawing. It was some other 
crow farther off in the woods. For if 
the crow that had flown down and picked 
up Ted’s knife from the log had opened its 
mouth to caw, it would have had to drop the 
knife. A crow must open its beak to call, 
just as you have to open your mouth to sing, 
or as a dog opens its mouth to bark. 

“Drop my knife! Drop my knife, you 
funny black crow!” cried Ted. 

“Frow suffin’ at him! Frow suffin’!” 

124 


Trouble in the Store 


125 


cried Trouble, so eager and excited that he 
forgot to talk straight. “Frow suffin’!” 

“I’ll throw something all right!” shouted 
Ted. 

“Don’t frow my whistle,” begged 
Trouble. 

Ted had been about to do this, forgetting 
that the stick he held in his hand was the 
one on one end of which he had started 
the whistle for his small brother. 

“I’ll throw a stone!” cried the Curlytop 
boy. 

Off in the woods sounded the caw of that 
other crow. And, just as Ted threw a stone 
at the black bird that had picked up his 
knife, though Ted did not hit the crow, the 
feathered thief with the knife in his beak 
opened his mouth and sent out an answer¬ 
ing: 

“Caw! Caw! Caw!” 

Of course as soon as it opened its mouth 
down fell the knife, and away the crow flew. 

“You made him drop it!” cried Trouble. 

“I guess he had to drop it to caw,” said 
Ted, which was more like the truth, for the 
stone he had thrown did not come anywhere 
near the crow. “I hope I find my knife,” 
Teddy went on. 



126 The Curly tops in the Woods 


He ran toward the place where he had 
seen it fall from the crow’s beak, and as the 
bird circled overhead, crying and cawing in 
answer to the other, which the boys did not 
see, Ted and his brother searched amid the 
leaves for the missing knife. 

After poking about for some time they 
picked it up, and Ted looked at it carefully 
to see if it might be damaged. But it was 
none the worse from having been nearly 
carried off by the crow. 

44 What made him want it?” asked Trou¬ 
ble, as the whistle-making started again. 

4 4 Oh, I guess maybe he wanted to give it 
to his little boy,” Ted answered, with a 
laugh, as he carefully whittled away at the 
whistle. 

44 Has crows got little boys?” 5 Trouble 
wanted to know. 

44 Yes, I guess so; and little girls, too,” 
explained Teddy. 

4 4 But how can a crow boy cut with a 
knife?” persisted William. 44 How can 
he?” 

44 Well, I guess maybe he doesn’t, except 
in fairy stories,” said Ted. 

44 What makes crows caw?” was Trouble’s 
next question. 



Trouble in the Store 


127 


44 That’s the way they talk.” 

44 Oh, does crows talk?” eagerly cried 
Trouble. He listened a moment. Over the 
trees floated a cry of: 

<4 Caw! Caw! Caw!” 

44 What’s him crow sayin’ ?” he demanded. 

44 Oh, I don’t know!” Ted had to confess. 

44 You ask too many questions, Trouble! I 
can’t answer half of ’em. Crows must talk 
among themselves same’s dogs talk when 
they rub noses and wag their tails. Now 
there’s your whistle. Blow on it and then 
you can’t ask so many questions.” 

He shut his knife and put it in his pocket, 
while Trouble put the blowing end of the 
whistle in his lips. It gave forth a shrill, 
clear sound. 

44 ’At’s a fine whistle!” Trouble said. 
44 Thanks you, Ted.” 

44 All right, boysie! I’m glad you like it. 
That’s it—toot away!” 

As Trouble blew harder on the whistle 
several birds in the trees seemed to sing in 
answer. And again, over the trees, came the 
hoarse voices of the crows. 

44 Caw! Caw! Caw-aw-aw!” they cried. 

44 Maybe they wants a whistle,” suggested 
Trouble. 



128 The Curlytops in the Woods 


“Maybe,” agreed Ted, with a laugh. 
“Well, I’m not going to make them any. 
That was a bold fellow to come down and 
take my knife like that!” 

And when Ted and Trouble reached the 
bungalow and told what had happened, 
Janet said: 

“Oh, Ted! Maybe that was Mr. Jenk’s 
tame crow.” 

“What, the one that tried to fly away with 
my knife?” 

“Yes, maybe that was Jim, the lame crow, 
and if you could have caught him we’d get 
ten dollars.” 

Teddy shook his head. 

“That wasn’t Jim crow,” he said. 

“How do you know?” asked Janet. 

“ ’Cause he wasn’t lame,” answered her 
brother. “I watched him walk along on the 
log ’fore he picked up my knife and he 
didn’t limp a bit.” 

“Maybe it was Mr. Jenk’s lame, tame 
crow,” persisted Janet, “but maybe he got 
well after he flew off to the woods, and 
maybe he’s here now.” 

Ted shook his head in doubt. 

“This is too far away for Mr. Jenk’s crow 
to come,” he said. “And he couldn’t get 



Trouble in the Store 


129 


well. He was lame from a broken leg and 
Mr. Jenk said Jim would always be lame 
like he was ’cause one leg was shorter than 
the other.” 

“Oh,” murmured Janet. “Well, anyhow, 
I’m glad he didn’t take your knife.” 

“So’m I,” agreed Teddy. 

There were now busy times at Mount 
Major; at least for Mr. Martin, as he must 
watch over and tell the two men, Jack and 
Henry, as they called themselves, about put¬ 
ting the groceries and merchandise away on 
the shelves. In another day or two the 
lumbermen would arrive and there would 
be more busy scenes in the woods where the 
Curlytops were spending their vacation. 

By the time the boxes and barrels of sup¬ 
plies had been unpacked and placed on the 
shelves, some of the lumbermen arrived. 
There were men who chopped down the 
great trees, other men who piled them on 
skids and wagons and hauled them to the 
lake or river, where they were sent down 
long slides, or chutes, then to be floated to 
the mill. 

In parts of the woods too far from the 
water, the logs were carted to the mill on 



180 The Curly tops in the Woods 

wagons and piled up outside to wait for the 
sawmill to cut them into lumber. 

There was a special “gang” of men to 
operate the sawmill, and this was the place 
Ted best liked to linger near. He was much 
interested in machinery. Trouble was, too, 
and went with his brother each time Ted 
started for the mill. 

As Mr. Martin had said, some of the lum¬ 
ber workers brought their families to the 
woods with them, and these men, women and 
children were given homes in small cabins 
that were specially built for them. 

In about a week after the Curlytops had 
arrived at the bungalow in the woods, Mount 
Major was a very lively place. The store 
was opened and doing business. Mr. Martin 
acted as manager of the store for a time, and 
he had several clerks to wait on the cus¬ 
tomers. 

“It's funny to see a store in the woods 
like this,” said Janet to her mother. 

“Yes, but when men work they must eat, 
and to eat they have to buy things,” an¬ 
swered Mrs. Martin with a smile. ‘ 4 Besides, 
your father makes money by coming up here 
to start the store. And if we had no money 



Trouble in the Store 


131 


we could not have things to eat and things 
to wear.” 

“I see,” said Janet, with a smile. 

Most of that first week was spent in get¬ 
ting things to rights about the camp and in 
setting up the store. Then, too, the sawmill 
had to be made ready, so at first no trees 
were cut. 

But at last the day came when lumbering 
was really started, and as a special treat the 
Curlytops and Trouble were taken by their 
mother to watch one of the big trees being 
felled. 

“Shall we be safe here?” she asked one 
of the choppers. 

“Oh, yes,” he answered. “The tree will 
fall over that way,” and he waved his hand 
toward an open place in the woods. 

“Mother, how can he tell just where the 
tree is going to fall?” asked Janet. 

“Oh, they have a way of knowing,” she 
answered. 

“It all depends on the way we chop it,” 
explained the lumberman, who overheard 
what Janet had asked. “It takes practice, 
but we can make a tree fall anywhere we 
want it to.” 

And this proved to be the case. Two men 



132 The Curly tops in the Woods 


chopped at the big trunk, one on either side. 
Their bright axes flashed in the sunshine 
and the white chips flew about. 

“We must come back here after the tree 
is cut, and pick up some of the chips,’’ said 
Mrs. Martin to the children. “Chips are 
fine for putting on the fire to make the tea¬ 
kettle boil quickly.” 

“I wish I could chop a tree,” sighed 
Trouble. 

“Oh, you mustn’t ever touch one of the 
men’s axes!” warned Mrs. Martin, for she 
could read Trouble’s mind at times. “They 
are so sharp they would cut you badly.” 

“They’re shiny, too,” said Trouble. “I 
guess maybe a crow would like to carry one 
off like they took your knife, wouldn’t they, 
Ted?” he asked. 

“Ho! Ho! A crow would have a fine 
time trying to fly away with an axe!” 
laughed Ted. 

“Well, but if maybe six ten dozen crows 
—now—tried to take a axe they could— 
couldn’t they, Mother?” asked the little 
fellow. 

“Well, I don’t know,” was the answer 
Mrs. Martin thought it safest to make. 

Chop! Chop! Chop! went the sharp 



Trouble in the Store 


133 


axes to the trunk of the tree. Soon the top 
part began to quiver and sway. 

“Look out! She’s going to fall!” cried 
one of the lumbermen. 

“We’d better run back, children!” said 
Mrs. Martin. 

“Stay where you are, lady! You’ll be all 
right,” advised the head chopper. 

Crash! 

Down went the tree, and just as the lum¬ 
berman had said, it fell in exactly the spot 
picked out for it, and nowhere near the place 
where Mrs. Martin stood with the Curly- 
tops and Trouble. 

* 4 Hurray! ’ ’ cried Teddy. 4 4 Good work! ’ 9 
He had often heard his father say that. 

44 Glad you liked it,” laughed one of the 
men. 

Then they began trimming from the tree 
the branches, so the log could be taken to the 
mill, either being floated down the river or 
carted on the wagon or skids. The skids 
formed a sort of long, low sled with wooden 
runners, and in smooth places this could be 
pulled over the ground, dragging logs where 
they were needed. 

That night, after a pleasant day in the 
woods, during which the Curlytops had 



134 The Curlytops in the Woods 


much fun, Janet watched her mother laying 
aside some rings and a breastpin, as Mrs. 
Martin was getting ready for bed. 

“ You didn’t find the little diamond locket 
I lost, did you, Mother?” asked Janet wist¬ 
fully. 

“No, dear, I didn’t,” was the reply. “But 
don’t worry about it,” she went on, as she 
saw the sad look on Janet’s face. “Perhaps 
we may find it sometime, though when I 
didn’t come across it after we packed up to 
come here, I began to lose hope.” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” murmured Janet. 

“Don’t worry,” said her mother kindly, 
and Janet went to bed to dream that she had 
found the locket and that the diamond in it 
had grown as large as an orange. When 
she awakened and found it only a dream, she 
was very much disappointed. 

However, the day that dawned was such 
a bright and pleasant one and there was the 
prospect of so much fun in the woods that 
J anet could not long be sad. 

“Come on out and play!” called Ted. 

“We have fun!” added Trouble. 

“We’ll play camping out in the woods,” 
said Janet. “We’ll make believe we’re the 



Trouble in the Store 


135 


early settlers like the Pilgrims we read 
about in our school books, Ted.” 

“That’ll be fun,” he agreed. 

“I not goin’ to take any pills!” objected 
Trouble, as he heard that strange word. “I 
not sick and I not take pills!” 

“You don’t have to take pills!” laughed 
Janet. “We were talking about the Pil¬ 
grims.” 

“Who is them?” Trouble wanted to know. 

“Oh, they used to fight with the Indians,” 
said Ted. 

“Den I be a Pigwim!” announced 
Trouble, which was as near as he could say 
it. “Does Pigwims eat?” he wanted to 
know. 

‘ 6 Of course they do! ” said Teddy. “ We ’ll 
go to the store and get daddy to give us 
things to eat in the woods,” he added. 

Mr. Martin was glad to have the children 
roam in the woods in play, and he gave them 
some packages of crackers for their lunch. 
While he was wrapping them up for Teddy 
and Janet, baby William wandered behind 
the store counter. A lumberman entered 
as Mr. Martin finished giving the Curlytops 
what they had asked for. Looking behind 



136 The Curlytops in the Woods 


the counter the lumberman gave a start and 
suddenly cried: 

4 ‘There’s trouble here!” 

“Yes, I know Trouble is here,” said Mr. 
Martin, thinking the man meant the little 
boy. “Come out, Trouble!” he called. 

“No, but I mean there’s a different kind 
of trouble!” exclaimed the man. “I don’t 
mean your boy, though he may have been the 
cause of it.” 

“The cause of what?” asked Mr. Martin, 
starting for the counter behind which he had 
seen William wander. 

“The cause of the molasses running all 
over,” was the reply. “The spigot of the 
barrel is open and there’s a big puddle of 
molasses on the floor. It’s growing bigger! 

“Look out there, young man!” he quickly 
cried, taking a step forward. “Look out, 
or you’ll sit in it. Oh, too late!” he gasped. 
“He’s gone and done it! Right in the 
molasses he is! Right in the molasses!” 



CHAPTER XII 


TED IS CAUGHT 

Trouble grunted. Then he grunted again. 
Then he tried to get up from the floor where, 
as the lumberman said, the little fellow had 
sat down in a puddle of molasses. 

But Trouble found he couldn’t get up. 
His clothing stuck to the messy, sweet stuff 
and thus was held to the floor, almost as if 
it had been tacked there. 

Then Trouble began to cry. 

His father had run around the end of the 
counter to look behind it as soon as the lum¬ 
berman spoke of the molasses. Ted and 
Janet followed their father. Thus all of 
them saw the trouble poor Trouble was in. 

“Oh, he is stuck!” cried Ted, hardly able 
to keep from laughing. 

“You poor dear!” murmured Janet. “I’ll 
get you up!” 

“No, don’t go near him, or you’ll get in 

137 


138 The Curly tops in the Woods 


the molasses, too,” warned Mr. Martin. 
“Stay where you are, Janet. I’ll lift Trou¬ 
ble out. Don’t cry, William,’’ he added 
kindly, as he saw tears rolling down the 
little fellow’s face. “You couldn’t help it— 
I suppose,” he went on. “That is, unless 
you opened the spigot of the molasses 
barrel.” 

“I only—now—er—I—now—only opened 
it a little bit of a way,” sobbed Trouble. “I 
wanted to see—now—how fast it would run 
out and it runned out an’ I—I couldn’t shut 
it off! Oh, dear!” 

‘ ‘ Hum! I must put a lock on my molasses 
barrels if you are going to be around the 
store,” said Mr. Martin. He had first 
reached over Trouble’s head and shut off the 
stream of sweet stuff which no longer drib¬ 
bled out on the floor. Then Mr. Martin lifted 
Trouble from his sticky seat, having to pull 
rather hard to get the little fellow up from 
the floor. 

“My, but you need a bath!” cried Daddy 
Martin, holding Trouble as far away from 
him as possible so the dripping molasses 
would not soil his own clothes. “I guess 
I’ll dip you in the lake,” he added, with a 
laugh. 



Ted Is Caught 


139 


“Oh, yes, give me a swim!” cried Trouble, 
thinking now only of this new fun. 

“I believe I will,” said his father. “ Your 
clothes will have to be soaked, anyhow, to 
get the molasses off, and I may as well soak 
you and them at the same time. It’s a warm 
day—just right for a bath.” 

“Oh, may we go in, too?” begged Ted. 

“No, I’d rather you wouldn’t now,” his 
father said. 

“Anyhow, we’re going to play Pilgrims,” 
said Janet. “We’ll wait for you, Trouble,” 
she went on. “We’ll wait until you get 
cleaned up.” 

Telling one of the clerks in the store to 
have the puddle of molasses mopped up and 
asking another man to look after things 
while he was gone, Mr. Martin took Trouble 
down to the lake, which was not far from 
the woodland store. 

“What in the world are you going to do, 
Dick?” cried Mrs. Martin, as, coming over 
from the bungalow, she saw her husband on 
his way to the lake with baby William. 

“Daddy goin’ put me in water!” cried 
Trouble, now as much delighted as he had 
been frightened. 

“What has happened?” asked his mother. 



140 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“He sat in the molasses !” answered Ted. 

“And he opened the barrel and it all ran 
out on the floor/ ’ added Janet. 

“Oh, Trouble!” sighed his mother. 

“There didn’t much molasses run out/* 
corrected Mr. Martin. “Only about a quart, 
I guess, for he couldn’t get the spigot all the 
way open.” 

He told what had happened, and said he 
thought the best way was to wash Trouble 
and his sticky clothes at the same time. 

“Yes, it is a good way,” agreed Mrs. Mar¬ 
tin. “I’ll do it, though, Dick. You go clean 
yourself off and get back to the store.” 

“I guess I need a little scrubbing my¬ 
self,” admitted Mr. Martin, with a laugh, 
as he looked at the spots of molasses that 
had dripped from Trouble to his trousers. 
Luckily they were an old pair that he had 
put on to do some rough work about the 
store, and he could easily change them. 

“Dis lots ob fun!” announced Trouble, as 
his mother sat him down in the shallow 
water at the edge of the lake. “I go swim- 
min ’ wif my clothes on! Ho! Ho! ’ ’ 

“Yes, it’s fun for you,” said his mother. 
“But it makes a lot of work for Lucy. 
She’ll have to wash and iron your clothes. 



Ted Is Caught 


141 


I don’t suppose there is much use in telling 
you not to do it again, for I don’t believe you 
will do that same thing again. But you’ll 
do something just as bad.” 

And those of you who know Trouble will, 
no doubt, agree with Mrs. Martin. 

Everything comes to an end at last, and 
so did the cleaning of Trouble. Dressed in 
dry garments, he went off with his brother 
and sister to the woods to play “Pigwim,” 
as he called it. 

The children had with them some pack¬ 
ages of crackers and other good things to 
eat for their lunch, and they hoped to have 
a lot of fun. Nor were they disappointed, 
for it was a lovely day to wander out among 
the trees of the forest. 

The Curlytops and their little brother 
played “Pigwim” in the woods, pretending 
to be early Pilgrim Father settlers in fear 
of an attack by the Indians. Ted took the 
part of the Indians and made believe attack 
the log cabin of Trouble and Janet. The log 
cabin was made by piling some twigs the 
lumbermen had left against an old stump. 
Afterwards Ted pretended to chase Trouble 
and Janet through the woods and they hid 
away from him. 



142 The Curly tops in the Woods 


The children finally became tired of this 
game and started another. Then it was 
“time to eat,” as Trouble said, so they found 
a flat stump for a table and spread out on it 
the lunch their father had given them from 
the store. 

“Doesn’t it taste good?” asked Ted of his 
sister. 

“Awful good,” she agreed. 

“ Better’n it does at home,” added Ted. 

“I ’ike it, too,” declared Trouble. 

As I suppose you have all noticed, a picnic 
lunch, even if it is only crackers or bread 
and butter, tastes better than the finest meal 
served on plates with silver knives and forks 
and a spotless tablecloth. 

Suddenly, when the children were eating 
the last of their lunch, they heard a crack¬ 
ling in the bushes near them, and Trouble 
cried: 

“It’s a bear!^ 

But it was nothing of the sort. It was 
only a couple of the lumbermen breaking 
their way through the underbrush and slash¬ 
ing at it with their sharp axes. 

“Hello, kiddies!” greeted one of the men, 
with whom the Curlytops had been friendly. 




THERE WAS A MOMENT OF SILENCE AND THEN THE GREAT 
TRUNK CRASHED TO THE GROUND. 

“The Curlytops in the Woods.” 


Page 144 





















































































































































































































































. 














Ted Is Caught 143 

1 ‘You’d better run away from here now,” 
be went on. 

“Isa bear comm’?” asked Trouble. 

“Ob, no,” laughed tbe man. “But we’re 
going to cut down some trees near bere, and 
you might get hurt. Better run home.” 

“Couldn’t we stay and watch you cut?” 
asked Ted. 

“Yes, if you get in a safe place,” was tbe 
answer. 

“I’ll put them where they won’t get hit,” 
said the other man. 

Accordingly the Curlytops and Trouble 
were led to a secure place between some big 
rocks and tall trees, and there they could 
have a good view of the chopping work. 
Even if some branches should fall near 
them, the rocks and trees would keep the 
toppling wood off. 

Then began the chopping of a giant of the 
forest. First one and then the other of 
the big lumbermen would send his axe biting 
deep into the wood of the tree they had 
marked to chop down. 

Chip! Chop! Chip! Chop! sounded the 
axes, ringing out in the woods. Silently 
the children watched. 



144 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“She’s going to fall!” suddenly cried 
Ted. 

He had seen the top of the tree begin to 
quiver and shake, and he had learned to 
know that this meant the center had been 
chopped through. 

44 Stand clear!” rang out the cry of the 
lumbermen, to warn anyone who might 
chance to be coming and who did not know 
what was going on. 

There was a moment of silence and then 
the great trunk crashed to the ground, 
breaking in its fall many smaller trees and 
the bushes. 

44 When I grow up I’m going to cut trees 
down,” declared Ted. 

44 I’d rather plant them and see them 
grow,” said Janet. 

4 ‘Well, if they didn’t cut trees down we 
wouldn’t have any houses to live in,” Teddy 
remarked. 

44 I s’pose so,” agreed his sister. 44 But 
it’s kind of sad to see a big tree that took 
years and years to grow chopped down in a 
few minutes.” 

In the days that followed the Curlytops 
had wonderfully good times in the woods. 
They watched the men chop down trees, they 



Ted Is Caught 


145 


saw the big logs floated down the lake or 
river to the mill, or else saw them skidded 
along through the forest to be sawed up into 
planks. 

The sawmill itself was a place of great 
delight, and the children spent more time 
there than anywhere else. But they were 
told to be very careful, and were not allowed 
to go close to the giant saw unless their 
father or mother or one of the men went 
with them. 

One day, when Trouble was not feeling 
very well—though his illness was only a 
childish complaint that would soon pass— 
Ted and Janet started for the woods to¬ 
gether. 

“Where are you going V 9 their mother 
asked them as they started off. 

“Oh, no place special,’’ answered Ted. 
“I thought maybe I could catch a crow.” 

“Catch a crow? What for?” she asked. 

“If I could catch one maybe I could tame 
it and teach it tricks,” replied the boy. 
“And then I could sell it to Mr. Jenk in 
place of his lame, tame crow that flew 
away.” 

“He’d pay us a lot of money,” added 



146 The Curly tops in the Woods 


Janet, who had been talked into this plan by 
her eager brother. 

“I guess you’ll have a lot of trouble 
catching a crow/’ laughed their mother. 
“And even if you do get one, you could 
never tame it. Now don’t get into danger,” 
she added, as they walked off through the 
trees. 

“We’ll be careful,” they promised. 

And they really meant to. It only goes to 
show that you never can tell what will hap¬ 
pen in the woods. 

At first Ted had an idea that it would be 
easy to catch a crow. He had made a sort 
of trap from a box that could be turned up¬ 
side down and held raised at one end with 
a stick. To the stick was fastened a string. 
Ted thought it was a fine trap. 

“I’ll raise the box,” he explained to Janet, 
“and I’ll put some corn under it. Crows 
like corn. I’ll be hiding off in the bushes 
with the end of the string in my hand. Then 
when a crow goes under the box to get the 
corn, I’ll pull the string and down will come 
the box.” 

“I see!” cried Janet. “And the crow 
will be under it. 

“Yes,” agreed Ted, “the crow will be 



Ted Is Caught 147 

under it and we can take him out and tame 
Mm. ’ ’ 

But it was not as easy as it sounded. In 
the first place crows seemed very scarce that 
day. And it was not until the Curlytops had 
tramped over a mile that they heard the dis¬ 
tant cawing of one. 

“I guess we’ve got to the right place,” 
whispered Ted, as he heard the “caw! caw!” 

“Yes, set the trap now,” agreed Janet. 

Accordingly the box was propped up on 
the stick and Ted, with the end of the string 
in his hand, hid off behind a distant bush 
with Janet, where they could watch the 
scattered corn under the box. 

But though the cawing of the crows 
sounded nearer, none came to the trap, and 
after a long wait the Curlytops thought they 
had better try a new place. They did, but 
all they caught in their trap was a hoptoad, 
and this they soon let go. 

“Well, maybe we’ll catch a crow some 
other day,” said Ted. 

“Maybe,” agreed his sister. 

They wandered on through the pleasant 
woods, and soon Ted cried: 

“Look, there goes a fox!” 

“Where?” cried Janet. 



148 The Curlytops in the Woods 


‘‘In that hollow log,” and Ted pointed to 
one on the ground—an old giant of a fallen 
tree which had rotted from the inside until 
it was quite hollow, like a pipe. “Pm going 
in and catch that fox,” decided Ted. “I’d 
rather catch a fox, any day, than a crow.” 

“Yes, it’s bigger,” said Janet. 

Neither of them stopped to think that it 
might be dangerous for a small boy to crawl 
into a hollow log after a fox. For though 
a fox is rather a cowardly creature, slinking 
around only at night to catch hens out of the 
coop, still a fox has sharp teeth, and, cor¬ 
nered in a hollow log, one would make a 
savage fight to get away. 

“I’ll crawl in and get him,” said Ted, as 
he and his sister reached the hollow log. 
“You stand at the other end,” he directed 
Janet, “and if he comes out there, grab 
him!” 

“Won’t he bite?” asked Janet. 

“Oh, no!” declared Ted. And that was 
all he knew about it! 

“Maybe you’d better poke a long stick in 
and drive him out that way,” suggested 
Janet. “It’s better’n crawling in.” 

Ted thought of this for a moment. 

“I’ll try it,” he agreed. 



Ted Is Caught 


149 


He thrust the longest pole he could find 
into the hollow log, but no fox ran out the 
other end into the waiting hands of Janet. 

“I guess I can’t quite reach him,” de¬ 
cided Ted. “I’ll crawl in after him.” 

He took off his coat to make the crawling 
easier, and started in at one end of the hol¬ 
low log. Janet, as directed, was at the other 
end to be ready in case the fox ran out. 

Teddy’s head disappeared from sight in¬ 
side the log. Then his body wiggled in and 
lastly his legs vanished. All that stuck out 
were his two feet, and from her end of the 
log Janet saw these waving up and down 
and from side to side. But they did not dis¬ 
appear. They remained outside the log. 

“Why don’t you crawl all the way in, 
Ted?” asked his sister. 

“I—I—can’t,” came the muffled answer. 

“You can’t? Why not?” 

“ ’Cause I’m stuck! I’m stuck! Oh, 
Janet, I’m stuck in the log and I can’t get 
out!” wailed Teddy. 



CHAPTER XIII 


Alone in the woods 

This was not the first time Teddy had 
gotten in trouble when he and Janet were 
alone together. Often it happened at home, 
and so the Curlytop girl was not as much 
surprised as she might have been if this was 
the first time. 

Janet left the end of the log where she 
was keeping guard, to catch the fox if it 
should rush out, and she hurried around to 
the end in which Ted had crawled. 

“Can’t you crawl in any farther ?” she 
asked. 

The still muffled voice of her brother 
answered: 

“No, I can’t crawl a bit more! I’m 
stuck!” 

“Well, then,” said Janet, in the most 
natural way possible, “never mind about the 
fox. We don’t want him anyhow. Crawl 
out and we’ll go home.” 

150 


Alone in the Woods 


151 


“But I can’t!” cried Teddy, and now his 
voice sounded as if he might be going to cry. 

“What can’t you do?” Janet wanted to 
know. 

1 ‘I can’t crawl out !’ 9 By this time Teddy 
was very much frightened. Janet could 
tell that by the catch in his voice. “I can’t 
crawl in and I can’t back up. I’m stuck! 
I’m stuck! You’d better go and get some¬ 
one to help me out!” 

But Janet was not going to run away so 
soon. She made up her mind to try some¬ 
thing herself first. 

“I’ll take hold of your feet and pull you 
out,” she offered. “Keep your feet still, 
now!” she commanded, as she went closer 
to the flapping shoes of her brother. “Keep 
’em still or you’ll kick me!” 

“All right,” said Teddy. “You can try, 
but I don’t believe you can pull me out.” 

Janet could not. Though she tugged and 
tugged with both hands at Ted’s shoes, 
bracing her own feet against the end of the 
log, she could not stir her brother one inch. 

“Why don’t you wiggle?” she finally 
asked, quite out of breath. 

“Why don’t I what?” asked Ted. 

“Why don’t you wiggle a little an’ help 



152 The Curlytops in the Woods 


yourself V 1 demanded Janet. “I can’t do it 
all alone! When I pull, you wiggle, an’ 
maybe you’ll get out that way.” 

“All right,” agreed Ted. “But I can’t 
wiggle very much. It’s awful tight in 
here!” 

Once more Janet took hold of his shoes 
and began to pull. At the same time Ted 
pushed with his hands backward inside the 
log and “wiggled .” 1 

But it seemed to be of little use. No more 
of Ted’s legs stuck out from inside the log 
than at first. 

Then he suddenly cried: 

“Stop! Quit!” 

‘ i What’s the matter ? ’ ’ asked Janet. ‘ 6 Am 
I hurting you?” 

“No, but my shoes are coming off!” an¬ 
swered Ted. And even as he spoke Janet 
pulled so hard that the left shoe came com¬ 
pletely off Ted’s foot, and the other was 
partly off. 

“Well, now I’ve got to push you,” de¬ 
cided Janet, as she dropped the one shoe. 
“If I can’t pull you I got to push you! 
Maybe you’ll come out the other end with 
the fox.” 

“There isn’t any fox in here,” said Teddy. 



Alone in the Woods 


153 


“I can see clear through to the other end 
and there’s nothing in the log but me—I’m 
here all right, an’ I wish I could get out! 
Oh, dear!” 

“I’ll help you! I ’ll push, ’ ’ offered J anet. 

She was about to push on Ted’s feet as 
they stuck from the log, but he stopped her 
with a cry. 

“Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” he begged. 
“If you push me any farther I’ll be stuck 
worse!” 

“What’ll I do then?” asked Janet. 

“You go get somebody! Get somebody 
to help me out!” wailed Ted. 

“I will!” cried his sister, and without 
trying any more she hurried away through 
the woods. 

She expected to have to go all the way to 
the bungalow to tell her father or mother 
about the plight of poor Teddy. But half 
way there Janet met two of the lumbermen 
and to them she told of her brother’s plight. 

“Caught in a hollow log, is he?” asked 
one man. “Well, we’ll soon have him out.’ 1 

“Show us where he is, little girl,” said 
the other man, and J anet led the way. 

On her way back through the woods with 
the lumbermen, the little Curlytop girl half 



154 The Curly tops in the Woods 


feared that when she reached the place 
where she had left Ted stuck in the log she 
might find his feet being nibbled by the same 
fox they had tried to catch. But nothing 
like this had happened. 

There was the log; there was no sign of 
a fox or other wild animal; and Ted’s feet 
were still sticking out, waving slowly. 

“Here we are, Ted!” cried Janet. “I’ve 
brought back two lumbermen with me.” 

“Oh, get me out! Get me out!” wailed 
Ted, in a muffled voice. 

“We’ll soon have you out, little man,” 
said one of the lumbermen. “Don’t be 
afraid. We can easily split this log,” he 
added to his companion. 

‘ ‘ That’s right, ’ ’ agreed the other. ‘ ‘ See, ’ ’ 
he said to Janet, “this log has a big crack 
all the way along it. We’ll just put in some 
wedges and they will make the crack wider. 
Then the hole in the log will get bigger and 
we can pull your brother out.” 

“Oh, I hope you can!” sighed Janet. 

“Sure we can!” declared one of the lum¬ 
bermen. “Stay quiet now, little man,” he 
added. 

And Teddy kept very still and quiet in¬ 
side the log while on the outside the lumber- 



Alone in the Woods 


155 


men cut and drove in with their axes some 
wedges of wood. 

A wedge, you know, is shaped like the let¬ 
ter V. The narrow part was put in the 
crack, and then the top, or wide part, was 
pounded on. As the V’s went farther and 
farther into the crack, the crack opened 
wider. This made the hole in the log larger 
as the fallen tree trunk was split more 
widely open. 

“Oh, now I can get out! Now I can get 
out!” joyfully cried Ted, as he felt the log 
loosening around him. “Now I can get 
out!” 

And a few seconds later he managed to 
wriggle and back out of the log himself, 
little the worse because of his adventure. 
His face was red, for it was hot inside the 
fallen tree, and his clothes were covered 
with pieces of brown, rotten wood. But this 
easily brushed off. 

“How did you happen to go in there?” 
asked one of the men. 

“I wanted to drive out a fox so my sister 
could catch him,” answered the Curlytop 

boy. 

“Well, I wouldn’t do that again,” the 
man went on. “In the first place, no fox 



156 The Curlytops in the Woods 


will ever run into a place unless there is a 
way of running out again, and he can run 
out quicker than you can run in. 

“ Another thing, never try to catch a fox 
in your bare hands. They have very sharp 
teeth and they’ll nip you badly. You have 
to wear heavy gloves when you handle a fox. 
But even if you had driven him out of your 
sister’s end of the log, Teddy, I guess he 
would have leaped past Janet so quickly 
that it would have looked like a flash of 
lightning.” 

“That’s right!” added the other tree 
chopper. 

“I won’t do it any more,” Teddy prom¬ 
ised. 

“We didn’t get a crow and we didn’t get 
a fox,” sighed Janet, rather sadly. 

The lumbermen laughed, and one said: 

“You tried to catch two of the hardest 
creatures in the world to trap. A fox and 
a crow are the slyest of all animals and 
birds, and for years so many have tried to 
trap and shoot them that they have grown 
very wise.” 

“There is a man who lives near us in 
Creseo,” said Teddy, “who had a lame, tame 



Alone in the Woods 


157 


crow that could stand on one leg and pull a 
cork from a bottle/’ 

“He could?” cried the lumbermen. 

“Not really pull corks,’’ explained Janet. 
“He just made a noise like a cork popping 
out of a bottle. But he was cute and he 
would stand on one leg so funny.” 

“But he flew away,” added Teddy. “And 
if we could find him we’d get ten dollars 
reward.” 

“I’d look at a crow a long time before I’d 
give ten dollars for one; wouldn’t you, 
Jake?” asked one man of the other. 

“That’s right, Sam,” was the answer. 

“But if you see this lame, tame crow, will 
you please tell us?” begged Janet. “ ’Cause 
we’d like to take him back to Mr. Jenk and 
get the ten dollars.” 

“Yes, if we see that crow we’ll try to 
catch him for you,” promised the men. 

“And if I got the ten dollars I’d buy my 
mother a new diamond locket in place of the 
one I lost for her,” went on Janet. 

“How was that?” asked one of the men, 
for they took a kindly interest in the chil¬ 
dren. Then Janet told how the ornament 
was lost the day she and her brother were 
playing house with Trouble. 



158 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“That was too bad,” remarked Jake. 
And then, as the children went back home 
with the crow trap in which they had caught 
nothing, one lumberman said to the other: 

“I guess there isn’t one chance in a hun¬ 
dred of finding that lame, tame crow.” 

“I should say not,’* agreed the other. 
“Nor of finding that diamond locket, 
either.” 

Of course those at the bungalow must be 
told of what had happened to Ted in the 
hollow log, and he was warned not to try 
such a dangerous thing again. 

Many times the Curlytops visited the 
general store, which was now running well 
under the direction of Mr. Martin. The 
lumbermen and their families bought their 
supplies at the store, and so did some of the 
near-by farmers. Once Silas Armstrong, 
on whose load of hay Trouble had gone to 
sleep, came to buy groceries, and he had a 
pleasant chat with the Curlytops. 

It was about a week after Ted’s adven¬ 
ture in the hollow log that something else 
happened to him. Some of the lumbermen 
had been sent to a distant part of the woods 
to build a chute, or slide, for the logs to shoot 
down into the river. Then a slight accident 



Alone in the Woods 


159 


occurred to the sawmill machinery and the 
foreman of it wanted all the help he could 
get to mend the trouble. 

“I wish Jake and Sam were here,” said 
the foreman, as he and all the other men 
worked hard to mend the broken machinery. 
“But they’re away over by the new chute.” 

“I’ll go after them and tell them to come 
here,” offered Ted. 

“Will you? All right, young Curlytop!’’ 
exclaimed the foreman. “Do you know the 
way?” 

“Oh, yes!” answered Ted, quite confident. 

If Mr. Martin had been there or in the 
store, which was not far from the mill, he 
might not have let Teddy go. But the father 
of the Curlytops was off in another part of 
the forest seeing about something connected 
with the business. And Ted never asked his 
mother if he might go. He just went. 

Off he started through the woods to go to 
the distant place where Jake and Sam—the 
two men who had gotten him out of the log 
—were working on the chute. 

At first the path through the woods was 
very plain, and Ted had no trouble. But 
after a while the trail became fainter and 
more than once the Curlytop boy stopped 



160 The Curly tops in the Woods 

and looked about Mm, listening for the 
sound of chopping axes. 

“I don’t seem to hear any,” he mur¬ 
mured; “but I’m sure this is the right 
path.” 

But it was not, and the farther Ted wan¬ 
dered the more distant he got from the place 
where the men were working. Deeper he 
went into the forest until at last he had to 
stop and give up. 

“I—I guess I’m lost!” murmured Ted. 
His heart began to beat strangely. It was 
a fearful feeling to be alone in the woods. 
And that is what had happened to poor 
Teddy. 



CHAPTER XIV 


A STRANGE CRT 

Jane and Sam, who had been sent to the 
distant part of the woods to build the long 
chute, of course knew nothing of Teddy 
having been sent to call them back to help 
mend the broken machinery in the sawmill. 
Meanwhile the foreman and his “gang” did 
the best they could without the two missing 
ones. 

“I don’t see why Jake and Sam didn’t 
hurry back here to help us,” said one lum¬ 
berman. 

“That’s so,” agreed another. “It would 
have been a lot easier if they had been here.’ 1 

Just then the foreman looked up, after 
the hardest part of the work had been fin¬ 
ished, and he said: 

“There come Jake and Sam now.” 

Surely enough, the chute builders were 
approaching. 


162 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“Well, you took your own time getting 
here,” said the foreman. 

“Took our own time? What do you 
mean?” asked Jake. 

“Didn’t you tell us to stay in the woods 
and finish making that new chute to send 
the logs down to the river?” asked Sam. 

“Yes, but a while ago I sent the Curlytop 
boy to tell you to hurry back here and help 
us. We had an accident in the sawmill, but 
it’s all fixed now. Why didn’t you two 
come?” 

“Because no one told us to,” was the 
answer. 

“Didn’t you see Teddy?” asked the fore¬ 
man, whose name was Tod Everett. 

“Nary a sign of him,” answered Jake. 

4 4 Whew! ’ ’ whistled Tod. 4 4 He must have 
wandered off—maybe he went fishing—and 
forgot to tell you. But he’s a pretty good 
boy for his age. I don’t believe he’d do a 
thing like forgetting on purpose.” 

44 What do you think happened?” asked 
Jake. 

44 I’m afraid he didn’t know in what part 
of the woods to look for you, though he was 
sure he knew his way,” said the foreman. 
4 4 But maybe his mother saw him going and 



A Strange Cry 


163 


called him back. I’d better go over to the 
bouse and find out. It’s getting late and 
will soon be dark.” 

Tod Everett, the foreman, tried not to 
let bis voice sound anxious as be asked Mrs. 
Martin: 

“Is Teddy around?” 

“No,” she answered. “Isn’t be over at 
the mill with you?” 

The foreman shook bis bead. 

“He was there,” be replied. “But we 
bad an accident and-” 

“An accident!” cried Mrs. Martin. 

“Don’t be worried! It was just that one 
of the saws broke. No one was hurt, and 
Teddy wasn’t even around when it hap¬ 
pened. But I needed Jake and Sam to help 
the other men, and I was going to send one 
of the men for them, over where they were 
building a chute, when Teddy offered to go. 
He said be knew the way.” 

“Yes, I suppose be does,” agreed Mrs. 
Martin. “Didn’t be go?” 

“I thought he bad until Jake and Sam 
came back just now and said they hadn’t 
seen him, ’ ’ went on the foreman. ‘ ‘ I thought 
maybe you saw him starting off and called 
him back.” 



164 The Curlytops in the Woods 

“No, I didn’t,” said Mrs. Martin. “I am 
afraid something may have happened to 
him,” she added. 

“The only thing that could happen would 
be that he might get on the wrong trail and 
wander off a little hit,” said Tod. “I’ll get 
the gang out and we’ll soon find him.” 

A few minutes later Mr. Martin arrived, 
and though he was worried when told about 
the absence of Teddy, he believed that the 
missing Curlytop lad would shortly be 
found. 

“But it will soon be night!” his wife 
remarked. 

“We’ll find him before then,” he said. 

A searching party was quickly organized, 
two of them, in fact, one to go one way and 
the second another way. And as the shadows 
began to get longer, showing that darkness 
was on its way, the lumbermen, led by Mr. 
Martin, started off into the forest. 

“Oh, I do hope they find Teddy before it 
gets dark!” sighed Janet. 

“So do I,” murmured her mother. 

Meanwhile perhaps we had better find out 
what happened to Teddy. 

As I have told you, he thought he surely 
knew the way to the place where Jake and 



A Strange Cry 


165 


Sam were working on the new lumber chute. 
He had been there before once or twice. 
But as he walked along and along the path 
he saw it growing fainter and fainter, show¬ 
ing that it was not much used. 

And then Teddy knew that he was lost! 

But he was a brave little fellow, and, 
brushing his curly hair back from his eyes, 
he picked up a stout stick for a club and 
walked on. 

“I guess I’d better go back home,” he 
said to himself. 

He turned about, and thought he started 
straight back over the way he came. But if 
you have ever been in the deep woods, you 
know how much one tree looks like another 
and that all the bushes seem the same. So 
Teddy could not tell when he had turned 
completely around to go back. 

As a matter of fact, he turned only partly 
around and, instead of heading for the bun¬ 
galow, he was wandering away from it 
almost as much as when he started straight 
away to get the lumbermen. 

For a time Teddy tramped on, quite sure 
he was going back to the bungalow. He was 
a little disappointed that he had not been 



166 The Curlytops in the Woods 


able to find the lumbermen to tell them to 
go back and help at the sawmill. 

“I guess Mr. Everett will think I’m not 
much good,” mused Ted. “If I couldn’t do 
a little errand like that he won’t want me to 
do things for him again. It’s too bad! But 
I didn’t think it was so easy to get lost in 
the woods.” 

Teddy was more lost than he realized, and 
he became aware of this when he saw that it 
was growing dusky. The sun was beginning 
to set, and though it was still light out in 
the open, in the fields and meadows, the 
woods had already begun to darken, as the 
dying rays of the sun could not get between 
the trees. 

After having walked, as he thought, many 
miles, though it was very likely not more 
than two, Teddy became very tired and a 
little frightened. 

Then he happened to think of something 
an older boy had told him to do when lost in 
the woods. 

“When you think you’re lost in the woods, 
don’t rush about, but sit down and wait for 
a while. Help may come. And, anyhow, 
sit down for a while until you get quiet and 



A Strange Cry 


167 


aren’t so excited. You can’t think well 
when you’re excited.” 

And Teddy was certainly excited now. I 
suppose you would have been that way your¬ 
self if you were lost and alone in the woods 
as was the Curlytop boy. 

“I’ll sit down and think!” decided Teddy. 

He did this, waiting and hoping that some 
one might happen along to lead him back 
to camp, which he could not find by himself. 
But as he sat there and the shadows grew 
longer, he began to worry and to think that 
he had better be doing something for him¬ 
self. 

“I’ll call,” decided Teddy, and he sent 
out loud shouts. 

Now, as it happened, he did not begin to 
yell for help until after Jake and Sam had 
left their working place in the woods and 
were on their way home. Otherwise the 
lumbermen might have heard the boy’s 
cries. But chance so had it that when he 
was calling they were tramping through the 
underbrush too far away to hear him. 

Also Teddy’s shouts did not echo through 
the woods at the time the searching parties 
started out, for not until Jake and Sam 



168 The Curlytops in the Woods 


reached camp did it become known that the 
Curlytop lad was lost. 

“Help! Help! Help!” 

Again and again Teddy cried this, but 
the only answers were the echoes from the 
woods and hills that now were in deeper 
shadows. 

“Oh, dear!” thought the boy. “Sitting 
still and shouting isn’t going to do any 
good. I’m going to walk along.” 

And this is where Teddy made a mistake. 
He should have remained in one place, and 
then the searchers who soon started out 
might have found him. But when he walked 
on again, he wandered farther and farther 
away from them. 

Teddy was in a sore plight. He was tired 
and hungry and lost. That was too much 
for one small boy. Any one of them was 
trouble enough all alone, but when the three 
came together—well, it was terrible, so 
Teddy thought, and I believe you will agree 
with him. 

Still he was not going to give up, sit down, 
and cry about it. As long as there was a 
little light in the woods he would tramp on, 
hoping he might, somehow, wander back to 
the bungalow. 



A Strange Cry 


169 


But as it grew darker and darker, and 
Teddy thought he saw strange sights and 
shadows in the woods, his heart beat very 
fast. Once he thought he saw a great bear 
thrusting out a hairy paw toward him, and 
he started to run. But he turned back in 
time to see that it was only a waving tree 
branch. 

* c I have got to get home! I just have to! ” 
half-sobbed Teddy. On he ran again. It 
was so dark now that he could not see the 
ground very well, and his foot caught in a 
trailing vine, tripping him so that he fell. 

“Oh, dear!” he cried. 

But the forest ground was covered with 
a thick coating of fallen leaves of other 
years, and these made a soft cushion on 
which he had fallen. 

Up he rose again, more desperate than 
before. He clenched his hands tightly, his 
hunger now forgotten and his only idea 
being to rush away out of the darkness, back 
to the light and cheerfulness of the bunga¬ 
low. s 

For a moment Teddy was dazed. Then, 
as his mind cleared, he looked through the 
trees and caught a glimpse of a light. At 
first he thought it was a campfire, but soon 



170 The Curly tops in the Woods 


saw it was only the last fading rays of the 
red sunset. 

“I ? ll go that way—toward the sun,” de¬ 
cided Teddy. 

On and on he stumbled. Once, before he 
knew it, he had walked into a swampy place 
in the woods, and his feet got wet. But this 
was a small matter now. His heart thumped 
under his little jacket, and he had to close 
his teeth hard to keep from screaming out. 

“But I mustn’t be a coward! I mustn’t 
be a coward!” thought Teddy. 

On and on he went. The red sunset died 
away. The woods were now very dark. 

Suddenly, through the gloom, came a 
strange cry. It was a high, shrill wail, and 
at first Teddy thought some one had called 
to him. 

“Here I am! Here I am!” he answered. 

Then, as the strange, wailing cry sounded 
again, Teddy knew it was no person calling. 

It was some animal! 



CHAPTER XV 


THE LONELY CABIN 

Teddy Martin was as brave as any boy 
of his age could be. But he was like nearly 
all other boys. When he heard or saw some¬ 
thing about which he did not know he be¬ 
came alarmed. 

Perhaps if he had seen an elephant or a 
tiger really coming toward him in the woods, 
he might not have been half as frightened 
as he was at that strange cry from some 
unknown animal. For seeing a lion, a tiger, 
or an elephant lets you know at once what 
you have to expect. And it may be that by 
running, dodging and hiding you can get 
away from the beasts. 

4 ‘What is it that’s howling at me?” 
thought Ted. 

He did not know, and there was none 
present to tell him. 

That was the worst of it—not knowing 
what animal was trailing after him—stalk- 
171 


172 The Curly tops in the Woods 

ing him up in the trees, maybe—following 
him! 

Teddy had stopped after calling out that 
he was there, thinking it was some person 
who had been sent to rescue him. But after 
a moment, when he knew that it was some 
animal, the boy prepared to run on again. 
Though where he would go in the darkness, 
and how he could save himself from the 
beast, he did not know. 

“But I’m not going to stay here to be 
jumped on and clawed and bitten!” thought 
the Curlytop lad. 

There flashed through his mind all the 
stories he had ever read or heard about wild 
beasts in the woods at night. For a few 
seconds Ted thought the worst—that it 
might be a lion or a tiger. 

Then his better sense came to his aid. 

“How silly I am!” he exclaimed to him¬ 
self, as he started off again in the darkness. 
“Of course there aren’t any lions or tigers 
here. They live only in hot countries in the 
jungle. The only wild animals around here 
that might hurt me are bears, foxes and— 
bobcats!” 

Teddy almost forgot about this last- 
named beast. But he had heard the lumber- 



The Lonely Cabin 


173 


men talking about it only the other day. 
Bears, the wood-choppers had said, were 
very scarce and hard even for a hunter to 
find, so Ted knew he need not worry about 
them. He, himself, had seen a fox, and had 
noted how the brown creature with the big 
tail had so quickly run away. 

“A fox won’t fight unless you corner 
him,” thought Teddy; “and I’m not going 
to corner this one! Besides, a fox doesn’t 
climb a tree, and this animal is up in the 
trees overhead.” 

He knew this, because he had heard the 
branches rustling as the animal sent out 
its strange cry. 

There was only one thing left that the 
beast could be. 

“It’s a bobcat!” whispered Ted to him¬ 
self. 

And as he heard again the strange, wail¬ 
ing cry of the beast, he felt sure he had 
guessed right. 

“They claw terrible, and bite!” thought 
Ted, with a shiver of fear, for he had heard 
the lumbermen talking about the bobcat, or 
lynx, which is another name for it. “But 
maybe it can’t find me,” thought the Curly- 
top boy hopefully. 



174 The Curlytops in the Woods 

He wished that it was daylight, and then 
he wished that he had his electric pocket 
flash lamp with him, so that he might see 
which way to go. But he had to make the 
best of it, and so he slipped along as well 
as he could, gliding amid the trees and 
bushes of the dark forest. 

He bumped into stumps and the trunks 
of trees. His feet became entangled in 
vines and, tripping, he fell. He stepped into 
mud puddles of cold water. All in all, poor 
Ted was quite miserable. 

Now and then he heard a rustling in the 
tree branches overhead, and he felt sure the 
bobcat was following him, waiting for a 
chance to drop down on him and bite or 
scratch. 

“Pm going to yell!” decided Teddy. 
“Maybe that will scare that bobcat.” 

And yell he did as loudly as he could. 
He not only wanted to scare away the bob¬ 
cat, if one was really chasing him in the 
tree tops, but Ted also wanted to let those 
who might be searching for him, know 
where he was. 

Again and again Ted cried, sending his 
ringing voice out in the darkness of the 
forest. 



The Lonely Cabin 


175 


Had those who were searching for him 
only been near enough they would surely 
have heard him and come to his rescue. 
There were two rescue parties out, as I have 
told you. Mr. Martin led one and Tod Ev¬ 
erett, the foreman of the lumber gang, led 
the other. 

Mrs. Martin remained at home in the 
bungalow with Janet, Trouble and Lucy. 
They were much frightened and worried, 
and more than once Janet would listen for 
any sound outside the cabin and then she 
would ask: 

“Do you think they’ll find Teddy, 
Mother ? 

“Of course they will,” would be the 
answer. 

“When?” Janet would ask. 

“Oh, soon now,” Mrs. Martin would re¬ 
ply. But as the hours passed and the res¬ 
cuers did not come back with the missing 
little boy, Mrs. Martin became more and 
more worried, though she did not say so. 

“Po’ honey lamb!” mused Lucy, as she 
rocked Trouble to and fro to keep him 
asleep, for he was restless. “I done wisht 
he’d come!” 

“So do I,” murmured Janet. And then 



176 The Curlytops in the Woods 


her mother said she had better go to bed 
and rest. 

“But I’ll not sleep,” Janet answered. 
“I’m going to stay awake all night—or un¬ 
til Teddy comes home.” 

However, even worry about her beloved 
brother could not long keep Janet awake, 
and soon her eyes were closed, as were 
Trouble’s. Then Mrs. Martin and Lucy sat 
up, listening and hoping. 

Mr. Martin had been very sure he or the 
other searchers would soon find Teddy. He 
thought the boy had merely taken the wrong 
path through the woods and was wander¬ 
ing about, not far from the bungalow. 

But the truth of it was that Teddy had 
gone farther than eVen he realized, and 
much farther than his father thought a 
small boy could walk in the time he was 
gone. 

“Another thing that’s against us,” said 
one of the lumbermen, “is that it’s so dark. 
There’s any number of little hollows and 
ravines that the boy could be in and we’d 
miss him even in daylight. And after dark 
it’s harder yet.” 

“I know it is,” said Mr. Martin. “But 
I think he’ll hear us shouting and answer 



The Lonely Cabin 


177 


us. Besides the moon will be up pretty 
soon, and it won’t be so dark.” 

But as for the shouts, Ted did not bear 
those of the rescuers, and they did not hear 
his cries as he yelled to drive away the bob¬ 
cat, if such it was that was trailing him. 
So the search was kept up. 

As for Ted, he wandered on and on, really 
going farther away from the bungalow and 
his friends instead of toward them. 

The boy listened after he had shouted to 
drive away, as he hoped, the strange wailing 
beast. Then, as he did not hear any sound 
in the tree tops and that strange cry did 
not again make him shiver, he took heart. 

“I guess I’ve scared him away,” thought 
Teddy. 

He started off again in the darkness as 
best he could. But he had not taken many 
steps before that same cry welled forth 
again, sending the shivers up and down poor 
Ted’s back. 

“You old beast!” he cried. “Why don’t 
you jump down and be done with it! I’ll 
hit you with a club if you do!” 

Ted firmly grasped the piece of tree 
branch he had picked up and waited. He 
stood under a tree, and he thought if the 



178 The Curlytops in the Woods 


bobcat did leap down the tree would be a 
good thing to dodge behind. 

Then, just as Mr. Martin had told those 
in his party would happen, the moon rose. 
Or, rather, it came out from behind some 
clouds that, earlier in the evening, had hid¬ 
den the silver disk. The woods were now 
much lighter, and for this Ted was glad, 
even though the moon did cast strange shad¬ 
ows. 

Suddenly, as he looked up into the tree 
from which the strange animal seemed last 
to have cried, Ted saw two green and gleam¬ 
ing eyes. The moon shone on them. 

And then a voice seemed to call: 

‘‘ Who! Who! Whoo-oo-oo! ’ ’ 

Instantly Ted burst into a laugh. 

“Why, it’s only an owl!” he told himself. 
“It was an owl that was following me 
through the woods. But I didn’t know owls 
cried like a bobcat. I thought they only 
made a sound like just now—‘who!’ I’m 
glad it’s only an owl!” 

The owl, for such it was, flew away. Ted 
saw it go, but he could not hear the flapping 
wings, for an owl flies on silent pinions, its 
wings being covered with such soft feathers 
as to make scarcely a sound. In this way 



The Lonely Cabin 


179 


an owl can fly close to the creature it wishes 
to catch without being heard. 

Ted laughed again as the owl hooted and 
vanished in the night. The boy felt better 
now, and he was beginning to wonder if he 
would have to spend the night alone in the 
forest when, suddenly, that same strange 
cry sounded again. This time so near at 
hand—in a tree directly over Teddy’s head 
—that the boy jumped. 

“It wasn’t the owl after all!” he thought. 
“It must be the bobcat still after me!” 

There was a rustling in the leaves of the 
tree, and Ted dodged behind the trunk of 
the one he had picked out as a refuge. Then 
as the moon became a bit brighter, for more 
clouds passed from it, the boy caught sight 
of two other eyes, gleaming red and green 
as they reflected the shine of the moon. 

“He’s looking right at me!” thought Ted, 
for, indeed, the eyes seemed to stare at him. 
“Come on down here and I’ll hit you with 
this club!” cried the boy boldly. 

However the bobcat—and by a glimpse 
he had of the beast Ted was sure it was a 
lynx—did not accept the invitation to come 
down and be clubbed. The animal snarled 
again and moved out on the limb over Ted’s 



180 The Curly tops in the Woods 


head so the boy had a good view of it. Then 
he saw more clearly what it was—an animal 
like a cat, only three times as large, and 
with curious tufts of fur on its ears. The 
lynx is about the only animal that has ear 
tassels. 

Suddenly Ted decided on a bold move. If 
the bobcat would not come down to be 
clubbed, the boy would not exactly climb up 
the tree to hit it—that would be dangerous 
indeed—but Ted could throw his club at 
the beast. 

“That’s what III do!” decided the boy. 

Ted was a good ball player for a boy of 
his age, and could throw straight. He had 
often gone after chestnuts in the woods, and 
had thrown clubs up into the trees to bring 
down a shower of brown nuts. 

Now he stepped back until he saw that he 
had a clear aim for the bobcat on a limb 
out over his head. Ted began to swing his 
club back and forth. 

“I’ve thrown a club farther than this!” 
thought Ted. 

He drew back his arm and let fly the 
heavy piece of wood. It went straight for 
the bobcat, and, somewhat to Ted’s surprise, 



The Lonely Cabin 181 

it struck the animal on the nose, its most 
tender spot. 

Instantly it felt the blow of the club on 
its nose, the lynx sent out a loud howl. Then 
it snarled and began tearing at the branch 
with its sharp claws, so that it sent down 
a shower of bark on Ted. 

Then, with another howl, as it rubbed its 
sore nose between its paws, the lynx turned 
as if to run down the tree trunk. 

“He’s coming after me!” thought Ted. 
“I’ve made him good and mad and he’s 
coming after me. I’d better run!” 

Before this the boy had “invited” the 
lynx to come down and be clubbed. But 
now that he actually saw the beast coming 
after him, as he thought, Ted could not 
stand it. Turning, he ran away. 

The moon now gave better light than at 
first, and Ted could see to keep out of the 
way of trees and bushes. Thus he made 
better speed. 

On and on he ran, not stopping to listen 
to learn if the lynx were coming after him. 
He stepped into puddles, but his feet were 
wet anyhow, and he no longer minded this. 
Suddenly he saw before him a well made 



182 The Curly tops in the Woods 


path through the trees—a path that seemed 
to have been often used. 

‘ 4 Maybe this is the way home!” thought 
Ted. “I hope it is!” 

He paused for a moment before turning 
into this path. He listened. No longer did 
he hear the rustling in the tree branches 
overhead, showing that the lynx was fol¬ 
lowing him. Nor did he hear that strange, 
wailing cry. 

“ Maybe I drove him away when I hit 
him on the nose!” thought Ted. 

He started down the path, running as fast 
as he could. Then, a little later, he saw 
that it did not lead to the bungalow at 
Mount Major. Instead it led to a little 
clearing, and in the midst of this place, 
where the trees were cut down, stood a 
lonely cabin. 

Who lived there? Did anyone? Would 
it be best for Ted to knock and ask to be 
taken in for the night ? 



CHAPTER XVI 


THE TRICK CROW 

While Ted was standing on the edge of 
the clearing looking at the light gleaming 
from the lonely cabin and wondering 
whether or not he should go up to it and ask 
for shelter, the search for him was going 
on in another part of the woods. 

As it grew darker and darker and got 
later and later, even Mr. Martin began to 
give up hope of finding Ted that night. And 
some of the men in the party led by the 
foreman, Tod Everett, spoke out and said: 

“ There ’s no use going on any farther. 
The boy’s probably asleep in some hollow 
tree or covered with leaves to keep himself 
warm in some ravine. We might as well 
give up until daylight.” 

But the foreman would not give up unless 
Mr. Martin asked him to, and so he decided 
to circle around and meet the boy’s father. 

183 


184 The Curly tops in the Woods 

The two searching parties had separated, 
one going one way and one another, and 
at times they were quite far apart. But as 
the night grew darker the two bands of men 
drew near together until at last Tod was 
able to call to Mr. Martin, asking: 

“What do you say? Shall we keep on?” 

Ted’s father considered. He knew that 
the men were tired, and yet he did not want 
to go back to the bungalow and have his 
wife meet him to ask: 

“Didn’t you find him?” 

It would be better to keep on searching 
even all night. 

But one of the lumbermen had an idea 
which in the end turned out to be a very 
good one. 

“Why not go back to the bungalow and 
see if there is any news?” he suggested. 

“What do you mean—news?” asked the 
foreman. 

“I mean maybe the boy has wandered 
back there himself, or maybe some one has 
telephoned in that they have him at their 
farm. There’s lots of telephones around 
this part of the country. Nearly every farm¬ 
er has one, and I know two trappers who 
have telephones and wireless sets, too. So 



The Trick Crow 


185 


maybe some of them have picked up Ted, 
or he may have wandered to their shacks. 
And there’s a telephone in the store. I guess 
Ted could tell who he was and where he was 
from.” 

“Yes, he could do that!” exclaimed Mr. 
Martin. “That’s a good plan, Jake. We’ll 
go back and see if there is any news. As 
you say, Ted may be back there now, or 
some one may have telephoned in.” 

Now we shall see what Ted himself did. 
For a few moments he stood staring at the 
lonely cabin from which gleamed a cheer¬ 
ful light. The boy listened. 

No longer did the owl hoot. No longer 
did he hear the weird cry of the bobcat or 
the noise made as the creature crept along 
in the tree tops. And from the cabin came 
not a sound at first. There was only the 
cheerful light. 

Then suddenly from a window of the 
cabin—a window that was open, as Ted 
could tell by the flapping curtain—there 
sounded a voice speaking. And to Ted’s 
amazement the voice said in rather strange, 
loud tones: 

“This is station Q Q Z. The next number 
on our radio program will be selections by 



186 The Curlytops in the Woods 


the Harmony Band. Jnst a moment 
please!” 

Ted could scarcely believe his ears. One 
moment to be hooted at by an owl and chased 
by a bobcat in the midst of dark and lone¬ 
some woods. The next minute to come upon 
a lighted cabin and hear from it the loud 
speaker of a wireless outfit! 

For it was radio music that a moment 
later sounded on Ted’s ear—sweet melo¬ 
dious strains floating out into the darkness, 
brought to that lonely cabin by the mysteri¬ 
ous electric waves and sent out by means 
of light bulbs and a loud speaker. 

It was wonderful! 

For a moment Ted stood there listening. 
He knew the Harmony Band. Many a time 
he had listened to it over his father’s wire¬ 
less set at home when the musical organiza¬ 
tion played at the Q Q Z station. 

“Hurray!” cried Ted aloud, as the music 
welled out on the night. “I’m safe now!’^ 

Quickly he hurried across the clearing 
toward the lighted cabin. The music was 
louder and plainer as he drew near. It was 
even so loud that when he knocked on the 
door his tapping was not heard. Realizing 
this, and not wanting to wait until the music 



The Trick Crow 


187 


stopped, Ted opened the door and walked 

in. 

He found himself within a well-furnished 
bungalow, somewhat like the one at Mount 
Major, only not so large. In the main room 
was a man and his wife and a hoy about 
Ted’s age. And this boy was leaning over 
the radio instrument set in one corner on a 
table, making some adjustments to it. 

“Tune it down a little, so it isn’t so loud,” 
said the boy’s mother, as Ted entered. 

As the boy turned the knob of the variable 
condenser, softening the musical sounds 
from the black mouth of the loud-speaker 
horn, they all turned and looked at Ted. 

He met their gaze smiling. 

“Hello I” exclaimed the man, in some sur¬ 
prise, though his voice was friendly. 

“How’d you get in?” asked the boy at the 
radio instrument. Then he turned the 
switch and cut off the battery power from 
one of the lights so that the music no longer 
sounded. 

“I came—I came in the door,’* said Ted. 
“I knocked, but I guess you didn’t hear 
me ’cause the music was going.” And then, 
like the “radio bug” he was fast becoming. 
Ted eagerly asked: 



188 The Curly tops in the Woods 


“Do you get any other stations besides 
QQZ?” 

‘‘Sure I do!” answered the other boy, 
and in a moment, though hardly a dozen 
words had been spoken, the two lads were 
firm friends—just because of their interest 
in radio. 

“We have a set home,” went on Ted, 
“but we haven’t any loud speaker yet. I 
want dad to get one.” 

“Do you live around here?’* asked the 
woman. 

“I don’t remember you,” said the man. 

“I’m over at Mount Major. My father 
has charge of the store at the sawmill,” ex¬ 
plained Ted. 

“Oh, Tod Everett’s outfit!” exclaimed 
the man. 

“Yes, he’s the foreman,” went on Ted. 
“I’m lost.” 

“Lost!” cried the other boy. 

“Yes. I started out this afternoon to 
bring back two of the men who were build¬ 
ing a lumber chute. There was an accident 
at the mill and Mr. Everett needed all the 
hands to fix it. But I couldn’t find Jake 
and Sam and I got lost, and a bobcat chased 



The Trick Crow 


rm 


me, but I bit him on the nose with a club 
and-” 

“You don’t mean to say you hit a bobcat 
with a club!” exclaimed the woman. 

“Well, I did. But I guess it was sort of 
an accident,” admitted Ted. 

“And you’ve been lost since early after¬ 
noon!” cried the boy. “You must be ter¬ 
ribly hungry!” 

“I am,” confessed Ted. 

“Oh, you poor boy!” murmured the wom¬ 
an. “We’ve had supper, but I can get you 
something. Why, your folks must be wor¬ 
ried to death about you.” 

“I guess they are,” admitted Ted. 
1 ‘ Course, I’ve been lost before. But not like 
this. If I could send word to the bungalow 
they’d know I am all right now. But you 
can’t send word over your wireless,” he 
added to the boy. “You only have a receiv¬ 
ing set, haven’t you?” 

“That’s all. I’m not allowed to send.’* 

“But we can telephone in the regular 
way,” said the man. “Is there a telephone 
in your place?” he asked. 

“There is in the store,” Ted answered 

“I’ll call up your family and let ’em. 
know you’re all right,” the man offered. 




190 The Curlytops in the Woods 

66 Now if you go with my wife she’ll get you 
something to eat,” he said. 

You may be sure Ted was only too glad 
to go. Into the kitchen, while food was be¬ 
ing set out, the boy came from the sitting 
room to help his mother. Ted learned that 
the family was named Brixton, and that the 
boy was called Harry. 

Now that he was taken in and cared for, 
Ted began to know just how hungry he was, 
and he was so busy putting the food in the 
place where it ought to go—in his mouth 
and stomach—that he hardly heard Mr. 
Brixton telephoning to the store. 

It did not take long to be connected with 
Mount Major, and Mrs. Martin answered 
the telephone, for her husband and the men 
had not yet gotten back. 

The way of it was this. Mrs. Martin was 
sitting out in front of the bungalow with 
Lucy, for the night was warm. Janet and 
Trouble were in bed asleep, and the faithful 
colored maid was trying to comfort Mrs. 
Martin, telling her that Teddy would surely 
be found soon. 

Then the telephone in the store rang very 
hard. There was no one to answer it, for 



The Trick Crow 


191 


the place was closed at night. However, 
Mrs. Martin heard the jingling bell. 

i ‘Maybe that means something/’ she said. 
“I’ll answer it.” 

And you can imagine how happy she was 
when Mr. Brixton’s voice sounded over the 
wire, telling her the lost boy had been found 
and was, even then, in his cabin eating a late 
supper. 

“Oh, are you sure it’s my Teddy?” asked 
the now happy mother. 

“Of course I am,” answered Mr. Brixton. 
“I’ll let him talk to you himself.” 

And soon Teddy and his mother were ex¬ 
changing joyful words. Briefly Teddy told 
what had happened to him. Then Mr. Brix¬ 
ton, who had come to live in the cabin in the 
wood for his summer vacation, informed 
Mrs. Martin just how his place could be 
reached by the road. 

“My husband and all the men are out in 
the woods now looking for Teddy,” said 
Mrs. Martin. “I can’t drive the auto over, 
as I don’t want to leave my other two chil¬ 
dren here. But as soon as my husband 
comes back I’ll send him after Teddy.” 

“No hurry at all,” said Mr. Brixton, with 



192 The Curly tops in the Woods 


a laugh. “We’ll be glad to keep him all 
night.” 

Ted was happy now. He was safe with 
his new friends, he had had a good supper, 
and his mother, at least, knew where he was. 
Now he could listen to the wireless music 
with a glad heart. 

And that is what he and Harry did. When 
the second supper had been cleared away— 
though, truth to tell Ted did not leave much 
in the way of food on the table—the two 
boys “fussed” over the radio instrument, 
“picking up” distant stations. 

It was not long after Mrs. Martin had 
received the joyful news of Ted’s safety 
over the telephone that her husband and the 
other searchers came back to Mount Major. 
The first thing Mr. Martin asked was: 

“Any news?” 

“The very best!” cried his wife, happily. 
1 ‘ Teddy’s in the woods cabin of Mr. Brixton. ’ ’ 

“I know where his place is!” said Tod 
Everett. “My, but I’m glad that boy’s 
found!” 

“So am I,” murmured Mr. Martin, and 
all the lumbermen said the same thing. 

“I didn’t want to speak about it before,” 
went on the foreman to Mr. Martin. “But 



The Trick Crow 


195 


there are wildcats in the woods—lynx, yon 
know. I was afraid some of them might 
have scared the boy.” 

“I hope they didn’t,” replied the father. 

But if Ted had not exactly been fright¬ 
ened by the bobcat, he was so near to it 
that, as Tod Everett said later, “they wa’n’t 
no fun in it!” 

In a short time Mr. Martin and the fore¬ 
man were on their way in the automobile 
to Mr. Brixton’s cabin, and there Ted was 
found, joyfully listening to music caught by 
the wireless instrument which worked just 
as well, and perhaps better, in the lonely 
woods than it does in your city home, if 
you live in the city. 

“Well, Ted, you had quite an adventure!” 
his father greeted him. 

“I had a lot of ’em!” replied Ted. Then 
he told some of the things that had hap¬ 
pened io him, while the others wondered at 
his pluck and spirit. 

Thanking the kind Brixton family for 
their care of Ted, Mr. Martin was soon on 
his homeward way with the lost boy, and a 
little later there was a joyful reunion in the 
bungalow at Mount Major. 

Janet awakened, having had a bad dream. 



194 The Curlytops in the Woods 


and her first question was a sleepy inquiry 
if her brother had come home. 

“Yes, dear, he’s here, and safe,” whis¬ 
pered her mother. 

Then Janet turned over with a contented 
sigh and went sound asleep again. Trouble 
did not awaken, and it was not until morn¬ 
ing that he knew the whole story of Ted 
being lost and found. 

You may be sure Ted was warned not to 
get lost again, and of course he said he would 
not. The foreman could not forgive himself 
for having let the Curlytop boy go on the 
errand to summon the two men from the 
log chute. 

“Oh, that was all right,” said Mr. Martin. 
“Ted was just as likely to have gotten lost 
playing out in the woods.” 

But Ted promised to be more careful after 
this. 

Trouble was soon himself again after his 
little illness, and as a sort of celebration he 
and the Curlytops went one day for another 
picnic in the woods, taking their lunch with 
them. They were warned not to, and prom¬ 
ised they wouldn’t, go far away. 

Ted and Janet were making a playhouse 
near an old stump, and Trouble had wan- 



The Trick Crow 


195 


dered off a short distance to look for pretty- 
stones. Suddenly the little fellow came 
toddling back in a hurry, to cry: 

‘ c Somebody’s knockin’! ’’ 

“Knocking? What do you mean, 
Trouble?” asked Ted. 

“Listen!” ordered William, holding up 
one hand as he had seen his mother do. 

To the ears of Ted and Janet came a rat- 
at-at-tat-tat! sound. 

“Hear ’em knockin!” whispered Trouble. 

“I know what that is,” declared Ted. 
“It’s a woodpecker picking holes in a tree so 
he can get the worms and bugs. It’s a wood¬ 
pecker knocking, that’s what it is.” 

“Does he want to come into our play¬ 
house?” asked Trouble. 

“No, I don’t think so,” answered Janet. 
She looked up in the trees overhead, to see 
if she could find the tapping woodpecker, 
then suddenly, as she caught sight of an¬ 
other bird, she exclaimed: 

“Look, Ted! The tame crow! There’s 
Mr. Jenk’s lame, trick crow!” 



CHAPTER XVII 


THE SAWDUST FIRE 

Teddy was piling some sticks up against 
the stump, to make it look more like a play¬ 
house. But as he heard his sister call out 
about the lame, tame crow, the Curlytop 
boy dropped the sticks and cried: 

“Where is he? Show him to me and I’ll 
catch him and get the ten dollars. I’ll give 
you half! Where is he, Janet ?” 

“Up there!” and his sister pointed amid 
the trees. 

Ted came and stood beside her until he 
could look up along her outstretched arm, 
hand and finger. 

“What you playin’?” asked Trouble, who 
had come back, tired of looking for pretty 
stones. ‘ i I wants play game! ’ ’ 

“This isn’t any game,’* explained Janet. 
4 ‘I’m showing Teddy where Mr. Jenk’s crow 
is—the lame, tame crow. Do you see him, 
Ted?” she asked. 


196 



AN INSTANT LATER HE SPREAD OUT HIS WINGS AND SOARED 

AWAY. 


“The Curlytops in the Woods.” 


Page 199 









































































































































The Sawdust Fire 


197 


“Yes, I see a crow/’ lie answered a mo¬ 
ment later. “But how do you know he is 
Mr. Jenk’s?” 

“Because! Look how he stands!’’ an¬ 
swered Janet. 

As she spoke the woodpecker tapped 
again. 

Tap! Tap! Tappity-tap-tap! Rat-a- 
tat! went the hard bill of the woodpecker 
on the hollow limb of a tree. It was like a 
distant little drum. 

And as surely as Ted and Janet looked, 
to say nothing of Trouble peering up into 
the trees—as surely as the children looked, 
when the sound of the woodpecker’s bill 
echoed through the woods, the crow stood on 
one leg. At least it seemed so to the chil¬ 
dren. 

“Look! Look!” cried Janet. “He’s 
standing on one leg just like Mr. Jenk’s 
crow used to do!” 

“And he has the other leg sticking out,” 
added Ted. “Janet, I believe this is the 
tame crow!” he exclaimed. “But how did 
it ever get away up here in the woods?” 

“I don’t know,” answered his sister. 

The woodpecker kept on tapping, for that 
was his way of getting something to eat— 



198 The Curly tops in the Woods 


bugs and worms that be pulled out of boles 
be drilled in tbe rotten wood of tbe tree. 
Tbe woodpecker cared nothing about tbe 
crow. 

And as tbe woodpecker tapped tbe crow 
still stood on one leg, with tbe other, as 
nearly as tbe children could see, stuck out to 
one side, stiff and straight. 

“That surely is Mr. Jenk’s crow!” de¬ 
clared Janet. 

“If he’d only pop like a cork coming from 
a bottle we’d be certain,” said Teddy. “Then 
I’d get him.” 

“How can you get him?” Janet wanted 
to know. 

“I’ll climb the tree!” cried Teddy. “I 
can do it!” 

He started toward the tree, but just then 
Janet cried: 

‘ ‘ Look! I think he’s going to pop! ’ ’ She 
meant that the crow might be going to imi¬ 
tate the pulling of a cork from a bottle. 
“He’s got his mouth open,” went on Janet. 

Teddy, too, saw this, and he was beginning 
to make very sure that it was Mr. Jenk’s 
crow when suddenly, as the black bird had 
his mouth open, there sounded at some dis¬ 
tance in the woods the cry of: 



The Sawdust Fire 


199 


“Caw! Caw! Caw!” 

It was another crow hoarsely calling, and 
as the noise came to the crow that was stand¬ 
ing on one leg, he gave forth an answering: 

“Caw! Caw! Caw!” 

“Oh, dear!” cried Janet as she heard this. 
“He was just going to pop the cork when 
that other crow hollered and made him hol¬ 
er. But I’m sure it was Mr. Jenk’s lame, 
tame crow, Ted.” 

“I think so, too. Anyhow, I’ll go up the 
tree and get him!” 

Why Teddy thought he could climb a tree 
and catch the crow I can’t tell you. Cer¬ 
tainly if the boy had been a bit older, or if 
he had stopped to think, he would have 
known that a bird that can fly and hop can¬ 
not be caught by some one climbing a tree 
after it. 

And that’s just what happened to Teddy. 
No sooner did he start to climb the tree than 
again the cawing sounded distantly in the 
woods. It was answered by the crow who 
was still standing on one leg. And then this 
black bird that the Curlytops were watch¬ 
ing suddenly put both claws down on the 
limb. 

An instant later he spread out his wings 



200 The Curly tops in the Woods 


and soared away, flying off through the 
trees. 

“Oh, he’s gone!” sighed Janet. 

“Maybe I can watch where he goes!” 
cried her brother. 

He ran forward through the trees, but a 
crow can fly much faster than a small boy 
can run—or even a large boy for that mat¬ 
ter—and soon the black bird was lost to 
sight. 

“Oh, well, maybe he’ll come back,” said 
Janet, trying to comfort her brother. 

“I hope he does,” said Teddy. “I’d like 
to get that ten dollars. I’m sure it was Mr. 
Jenk’s crow.” 

But when they told their father and 
mother about it Mr. and Mrs. Martin only 
laughed. 

“It couldn’t be the same crow that got 
away from our neighbor, Mr. Jenk,” Mr. 
Martin said. “I don’t believe it would fly 
up this far, though of course a crow that 
wasn’t lame could fly many miles.” 

“But he stood on one leg, just like Mr. 
Jenk’s tame crow used to when we snapped 
our fingers, or made a tapping sound,” ex¬ 
plained Ted. 

“Yes, birds often stand on one leg,” said 



The Sawdust Fire 


201 


his father. “And so do chickens. Lots of 
times I’ve seen one of our roosters stand on 
one leg with the other drawn up under his 
feathers to keep warm.” 

“Well, maybe it wasn’t Mr. Jenk’s crow, 
but it looked like him and it acted like him,” 
decided Janet. 

However, there was no help for it. The 
crow, whatever crow it might be, had flown 
away and might never be seen again. The 
Curlytops were a bit sad and disappointed 
for a while, but soon got over this feeling 
as there were so many things to do in the 
woods and so much fun to have in the lumber 
camp. 

Ted had gotten all over his scare of being 
lost in the woods and of being followed by 
the bobcat. In fact he wanted to start out 
to try to hunt the lynx. 

“We could easy catch him,” he said to his 
father. 

“I hardly think so,” said Mr. Martin, 
with a smile. “A lynx is almost as shy as a 
fox unless he is trailing some animal he 
isn’t afraid of.” 

“But he followed me,” said Teddy. 

“Well, it just wanted to see who you 
were,” said the boy’s father. “I don’t be- 



202 The Curly tops in the Woods 

lieve the lynx would have jumped down on 
you to scratch or bite you. It was just 
curious.” 

Some of the lumbermen said the same 
thing, adding that not unless they were cor¬ 
nered would a bobcat attack a man. So Ted 
was really not in as much danger as he had 
tried to think he was. Still it was scary 
enough for the little chap. 

Work at the lumber camp went on from 
day to day. Dozens of great trees were 
chopped down to be sawed up into boards. 
Quite a pile of sawdust was mounting near 
the mill now, and the children loved to play 
in this. They would climb to a point near 
the top of the pile. Then they would leap 
into it near the bottom and they could not 
get hurt because the sawdust was so soft. 

However, it got into their shoes, so most 
of the time they played in the sawdust bare¬ 
footed. But it also got down inside their 
clothes and scratched them; so that every 
time they played in the sawdust pile they 
had to go in and take off their clothes, shak¬ 
ing them out to get rid of the ticklish, pow¬ 
dered wood particles. Still they thought 
this was part of the fun. 

Once, when Trouble climbed to a higher 



The Sawdust Fire 


203 


point for the jumping off place than he had 
ever before been allowed to reach, and when 
he had jumped into the sawdust, Ted and 
Janet couldn’t find him. 

“Trouble! Trouble! Where are you?” 
cried Janet, looking down the sawdust slope 
for a sight of her small brother. 

There was no answer and not a sign of 
him. 

“Oh, Ted!” called Janet. “Trouble’s 
gone!” 

“He’s down in the sawdust!” Ted an¬ 
swered. “He must have jumped into a hole 
and he’s covered up. We’ll have to dig him 
out!” 

They did not wait to call or run for help, 
but, with their hands, began digging in 
the soft and fluffy pile. In a few seconds 
they had uncovered Trouble’s head. He 
was all right, except that he was rather 
badly frightened. As Teddy had explained, 
Trouble had sunk down in a soft part of the 
sawdust pile, and more of the dust sliding 
down had covered him up. 

“Are you hurt, Trouble?” asked Janet. 

“Me ’ike it,” he answered, with a laugh. 
“I hab ’ots ob fun!” 

Back he climbed to jump off again, but 

t 



204 The Curly tops in the Woods 


Ted would not let Mm leap from so great a 
height. 

“If we hadn’t been here you might have 
been buried in the sawdust all night, ” 
warned Teddy. 

“It be nice an’ warm in there—nice as 
my bed!” declared Trouble. And that is all 
concerning the danger they could impress 
on him. 

The sawdust pile continued to be a place 
of much fun for the Curlytops. Sometimes 
they would start at the top and slide to the 
bottom of the big heap, getting their curly 
hair full of the dust, to the despair of their 
mother and Lucy. 

“But chilluns suah hab got to play!” 
chuckled the black maid, as she used the 
brush. 

And play the Curlytops did! 

Mr. Martin did not want to spend too 
much time in the woods, as his own store, 
back at Cresco, needed attention. But there 
was so much to do at Mount Major in order 
to get the lumber store well started and the 
men who were to be left in charge needed 
so much advice that the father of the Curly¬ 
tops had to remain longer than at first he 
had intended. 



The Sawdust Fire 


20 5 


However, Ted, Janet and Trouble did not 
mind, as they thought there was no finer 
place in all the world than the woods where 
they were camping. And as the children 
liked it and as it was doing them good to be 
out in the woods and the fresh air, Mrs. 
Martin was willing to stay. 

Mr. Martin had nothing to do with the 
cutting of the trees and the floating of them 
to the mill to be cut up into lumber. But 
he owned some shares in the company, which 
is the reason he took such an interest in the 
store. He wanted to see it do well. 

So the Curlytops remained in the woods, 
and it began to look as though the whole 
summer would be spent there. 

“I think it’s the best vacation we ever 
had,” said Ted. 

“So do I,” agreed his sister. 

“Certainly the children never looked bet¬ 
ter,” declared Mrs. Martin. “I’m glad we 
came.” 

There were so many things to watch in the 
lumber business that the children never 
found time hanging heavy on their hands if 
they did not care to play. They could visit 
the mill, watch great trees being chopped 
down, they could see the men making up 



206 The Curly tops in the Woods 


rafts in the river or the lake and they could 
see the sawed boards being carted off to be 
shipped on railroad trains. 

“I like best to see the logs go down the 
chute into the river,’’ said Ted to his sister, 
when they were talking about the different 
sights around camp. 44 Let’s go over there 
now,” he suggested. 

44 Are you sure you won’t get lost?” asked 
Janet. For it was in going to this chute be¬ 
fore that Ted wandered off and got lost in 
the woods. 

44 Oh, I know the way now,” he said. 
44 Come on!” 

The Curlytops started, but Trouble called 
after them: 

44 I ’ants to go!” 

44 Shall we take him or hide?” asked Ted. 
Often when they did not want William to 
tag after them, the brother and sister would 
hide. After Trouble had tearfully searched 
for them, not finding them, he would go to 
his mother to be comforted. In this way 
Ted and Janet would find a chance to slip 
off where they wanted to go. 

44 Oh, let’s take him along—don’t hide 
from him,” said Janet, who had a soft spot 
in her heart for Trouble. 



The Sawdust Fire 


207 


“Come on then,” invited Ted. 

Soon the three children were wandering 
through the woods on the way to the lumber 
chute. The path was plain now, being much 
worn by constant use, and they could not 
get lost. So their mother was not worried 
about their trip, only warning them to be 
careful of Trouble. 

“We will,” promised Janet. 

Well, of course she meant to be, and so 
did Ted. But you never could tell what 
Trouble would do. 

When the children reached the place they 
found that the men were away. The chop¬ 
pers had gone farther back in the woods to 
cut down more trees, having sent down the 
chute all that were near it. 

That is, all the logs had been sent down 
but one, and this had stuck in the chute near 
the top, being balanced like a teeter-totter, 
or seesaw, on the very edge of the chute. 

The log was perfectly balanced at the 
middle, half of it hanging down the chute 
and the other half extending over the end 
where the men stood to start the logs on their 
trip to the river, a hundred feet or more 
below. 

Before Ted or Janet could stop him, 



208 The Curly tops in the Woods 


Trouble bad climbed up on tbe chute and 
had gotten astride the log. Then he found 
that it moved up and down, like a seesaw. 

“Trouble hab fine ride!” he said. 

He wiggled himself until he actually had 
the log moving up and down, with him on 
it. A moment later the log might have be¬ 
come unbalanced and have gone down the 
chute, taking Trouble with it to the river 
below. Ted saw the danger at once, and in 
an instant sprang and pulled his little 
brother from the log. 

6 ‘Trouble, you shouldn’t do that!” he 
cried. 

“I want wide!” protested the little fellow. 

“Yes, you’d have one ride too many if 
you rolled down the chute into the river with 
the log,” said Ted. 

‘‘ Hi there! Keep away from that chute! ’ ’ 
shouted some of the men, coming back just 
then with teams that had hauled more logs 
to be slid down. 6 6 Keep away! ’ ’ 

“I am,” Ted answered. “I was just tak-^ 
ing Trouble away!” 

And, for his own good, so he would not 
again do anything so dangerous, the men 
scolded Trouble and made him cry. Then he 
promised not to climb up on the chute again. 



The Sawdust Fire 


209 


It was better to have Trouble crying un¬ 
hurt than to have him crying after an acci¬ 
dent. Ted and Janet knew this. 

For a time they watched the men rolling 
the logs into the chute and saw them go 
pitching to the river far below. Then, hav¬ 
ing had enough of this fun, the Curlytops 
and Trouble wandered back through the 
forest to the bungalow. 

As they neared it they saw some clouds 
of smoke floating over the trees. 

“Must be running the sawmill engine ex¬ 
tra fast,” said Ted. 

“Don’t you smell something burning 
asked Janet. 

Ted sniffed the air and shook his head 
to say that he smelled nothing. 

“Well, I do!” cried Janet. She ran on a 
little farther, and then she saw what it was. 

“Ted! Ted!” she shouted. “The big 
sawdust pile is on fire!” 



CHAPTER XVIII 


TROUBLE HAS A RIDE 

For a moment or two Teddy thought his 
sister was “pretending,’’ as she often did, 
or that she was “fooling” him. But she 
seemed so much in earnest as he looked at 
her that he could not but believe what she 
said was true. Still he asked: 

“ Honest, is it burning ¥” 

“Cross my heart it is!” answered Janet, 
this being the strongest way she had of let¬ 
ting her brother know it was the truth she 
was speaking. “The sawdust pile is truly 
on fire!” 

And a moment later Ted saw it for him¬ 
self. The big pile of fine, wooden dust 
thrown off: by the big buzz saw was blazing 
and smoking, and running around it were 
many of the lumbermen. 

“Oh, I go get my fire engine!” cried 
Trouble. He pulled his hand away from 
Janet who was holding him. 

210 


Trouble Has a Ride 


211 


“No, you stay right with me!” she or¬ 
dered, running after him. 

Trouble had a toy fire engine that some¬ 
times squirted real water out of a tiny hose 
that was fast to it. I say “sometimes,” for 
often the fire engine could not be found, 
and, when found, it might not work because 
Trouble had stuffed sand or something else 
in the hose. But now his thought was of this 
toy as he saw the burning sawdust pile. 

“I put it out wif my engine,” he said. 

“You’d better keep away,” advised Ted. 
“This is going to be a bad fire,” and he took 
hold of Trouble’s other hand to help Janet 
hold the little fellow. 

“Do you think it will be bad, Ted?” asked 
Janet, in a low voice. 

“I guess so,” he answered. “Look at the 
smoke!” 

There was a great cloud of it now swirling 
around the sawmill. 

“Do you think our bungalow will catch?” 
Janet next wanted to know. 

“Oh, I guess not,” said Ted hopefully. 
“The wind isn’t blowing that way.” 

At the time his father’s store was burning 
he had heard some of the firemen speak of 
the wind, and Teddy remembered this now. 



212 The Curlytops in the Woods 


“I wouldn’t want our bungalow to burn,” 
went on Janet. *‘If I thought it was I’d 
get out my dolls.” 

“An’ I want my fire engine!” wailed 
Trouble. “I don’t want it to burn up! Oh, 
dear!” 

“It won’t burn,” Janet consoled him. 
“Come, we’ll go home,” she added. “I see 
mother calling us.” 

Mrs. Martin was in the doorway of the 
bungalow, beckoning to the children. When 
the sawdust pile caught fire she had come to 
see where they were. 

“Come in out of the way!” she called, 
and they ran to her. 

By this time a gang of the lumbermen 
were starting to put out the fire. There was 
a short length of hose from which a small 
stream of water spurted, and, for a time, 
Ted wondered where it came from, as he 
knew there were no fire engines in the 
woods. 

“How did it start, Mother?” asked Janet. 

“By sparks from the sawmill engine 
smoke stack, I think,” was the answer. 

“Will it burn the store?” asked Trouble. 

“I think not,” his mother replied. “And 
see, the men are pulling the sawdust pile 



Trouble Has a Ride 


213 


apart to get the burning side away from 
that which hasn’t yet started to burn.” 

The lumbermen saw that this was the only 
way to stop the fire from spreading. As yet 
only one side of the sawdust pile was on 
fire. Working on the side that was not yet 
blazing, with shovels and long sticks, the 
men were pulling the mass of fine, wooden 
dust into two parts. 

It was just as if you had set fire to one 
side of a big pile of leaves, and then found 
that you didn’t want to burn them all. If 
you had no water to throw on the fire you 
could, with a rake, pull off to one side in the 
street those leaves that had not already 
caught fire. Then you could let those that 
had caught burn out. 

That is what the lumbermen did. They 
separated the sawdust pile in two parts, 
with a space between them. There was a 
little water to squirt on the blaze, but not 
much. The small hose came from the water 
tank with which the boiler of the sawmill 
engine was filled, and this stream, with no 
pump behind to force it out, only dribbled a 
little way. 

“Don’t waste that water on the fire!” 
cried Tod Everett. 



214 The Curlytops in the Woods 


“Why not?” asked one of the men. 

“Because we haven’t enough. Use the 
hose to wet the ground between the two 
piles, and then the fire won’t travel over.” 

This was good advice, for the fire in the 
blazing part of the sawdust was now so 
strong that it would have taken a large 
stream of water to put it out. But a little 
water would answer to wet the space be¬ 
tween the two piles of dust, and this the fore¬ 
man wanted done. 

His men heeded what he said, and soon 
most of the danger was over. The larger 
pile of clean sawdust had been pulled far 
to one side so it would not catch, and the 
remainder was allowed to burn itself out. 

“Couldn’t I squirt with my engine just a 
little bit?” begged Trouble, when he saw 
that the excitement was dying out with the 
fire. 

“No, indeed,” his mother told him. 
“Fires are good places to stay away from 
for little boys.” 

“I’m gettin’ to be a big boy. Daddy said 
so,” pouted Trouble. 

“Well, you aren’t big enough, yet, to put 
out fires.” his mother remarked, with a 
laugh. 



Trouble Has a Ride 


215 


But a little later the fire was so nearly 
out that she took the Curlytops and Trouble 
close to see what damage had been done. 
Aside from a few boards and the sawdust 
that had been burned, the loss was small. 
There was no loss in the sawdust, for it was 
of no use. Some farmers living near by 
used to come to get a load or two to fill their 
ice houses, but the remainder was allowed 
to rot in the forest. 

After the fire was over Mr. Martin and 
Tod Everett, the foreman, began asking how 
it had started. No one had really seen the 
first tiny blaze begin, but it was thought that 
sparks from the smoke stack of the sawmill 
must have started it. This seemed most 
likely. 

“Then you had better put a spark arrester 
on that stack,’’ said Mr. Martin to the mill 
foreman. 

4 4 1 will,’ 9 agreed Mr. Everett. 4 4 We don’t 
want any more blazes. The next time more 
than sawdust might go up in smoke. I in¬ 
tended to have a spark arrester on that stack 
all along, but there has been so much to do, 
starting this new camp, that I haven’t got 
at it. But I surely will make a spark ar¬ 
rester now.” 



216 The Curlytops in the Woods 


“ Mother, how can they arrest sparks ?” 
Trouble asked in a whisper, as he heard this 
talk. 4 ‘Does they have a policeman to ar¬ 
rest sparks ?” 

“If they do he’d have to travel in an air¬ 
ship!” laughed Ted. “For the sparks are 
always flying through the air.” 

“Mr. Everett didn’t mean a policeman, 
dear,” explained Mrs. Martin to Trouble. 
“He means a spark arrester would stop the 
sparks from flying from the stacks. Arrest 
means to stop, you know.” 

“How do they stop the sparks,” asked 
Ted. 

“Generally they put a piece of wire net¬ 
ting over the top of the chimney or smoke¬ 
stack,” his mother answered. “The smoke 
can go through the netting, but the sparks 
can’t. It is the big, red hot sparks, flying 
from the stack, that do the damage. In 
most locomotives there are these spark ar¬ 
resters of iron or wire netting.” 

“I never saw any,” Janet said. 

“That’s because they are set down inside 
the locomotive smokestack,” was the answer. 

The next day the children watched men 
fasten a heavy piece of wire netting over the 
top of the sawmill smokestack. 



Trouble Has a Ride 


217 


Of all the places about the lumber camp 
where the Curlytops best liked to be, the 
sawmill was their choice. They liked to 
watch the big trees chopped or sawed down, 
they were fond of lingering near the log 
chute, and they delighted to see the men 
build timber rafts on the river and float on 
them. 

But the sawmill they liked best of all. 
There was a delightfully clean smell about 
it—a smell of the woods as the logs were 
cut into boards, the sawdust flying about in 
a cloud. The saw, too, made such a funny 
“zipping” sound. First there would be a 
low hum, as the sharp teeth bit into the end 
of the log. Then the sound would become 
higher and shriller as the saw turned faster 
and faster. 

Finally there would sound a whine, like 
that of some animal, and the saw would 
come to the end of the log with a “zip,” and 
then there would be only a low, pleasant 
hum. 

The saw was not the only piece of ma¬ 
chinery in the mill that moved. Another 
piece was the “carriage,” on which the log 
was carried toward the saw. This carriage 
was a frame work on which the log rested 



218 The Curlytops in the Woods 

as it went forward inch by inch and foot 
by foot to be cut into board lengths. Besides 
the carriage there was a log chain, winding 
around a drum. 

The logs were brought near the end of 
the long incline up which they were first 
hauled by this chain. On the end of the 
chain was a great hook. This hook would 
either be driven into the log by one of the 
men pounding it with his axe, or the chain 
would be wrapped about the log and the 
hook caught in the chain. 

* 4 Pull away!” the lumberman would call 
to the engineer. The engineer would then 
shove over a handle, the chain would begin 
to wind itself up around the drum and the 
log would be hauled up to the saw carriage. 

Other men would take off the chain and 
roll the log in place, fastening it on the 
carriage so it would not slip. 

“All ready!” they would call, and the 
engineer would pull another handle which 
would start the carriage, carrying the log, 
end on, toward the big buzz saw. 

At certain times, when she could be with 
them, the Curlytops and Trouble were taken 
by their mother to the sawmill. And when 
there was a long log on the carriage, just 



Trouble Has a Ride 


219 


starting to be cut up, she would let them sit 
down on the far end of the traveling frame 
and “ride.” This was the greatest fun of 

all. 

It was almost as good as being an engineer 
of the mill, Ted used to think. As for Janet, 
she pretended the slow-moving log and the 
carriage on which it rested was a chariot 
drawn by big elephants going through the 
jungle. 

As for Trouble, he liked to pretend that 
the sawmill carriage and log was his 
“horsie,” and he sat astride the log and 
cried: 

‘‘ Gid-dap! Gid-dap ! 9 9 

Now, without anyone knowing it, Trouble 
had watched the engineer of the mill pull 
the handles that started the machinery un¬ 
til the little fellow, who was very smart, felt 
sure he could do it himself. He only wanted 
the chance, and he knew he must be alone, 
for he felt sure his mother would not let 
him go there if she saw him. 

So, watching his opportunity, Trouble 
one day stole away to the sawmill. As it 
happened, the machinery was not running, 
though the power needed but to be turned 
on, and none of the men was in the place. 



220 The Curly tops in the Woods 


It was Trouble’s chance. He had the whole 
mill to himself. 

“I get a wide,” he murmured. 

He toddled to the handle he had so often 
seen the engineer pull when he wanted to 
start the saw to buzzing and the carriage 
to rolling along. There was a big log al¬ 
ready in place. 

Trouble pulled. At first nothing hap¬ 
pened. He pulled again, harder than be¬ 
fore. There was a hissing sound, a low 
rumble, and the saw began slowly to revolve. 
Then the carriage started gently forward. 

“I do it!” cried Trouble in delight. “Now 
I get a wide!” 

He ran to the far end of the log and car¬ 
riage and sat down, pretending that he was 
astride his “horse.” 

Trouble was having a ride! But it was a 
dangerous ride! 



CHAPTER XIX 


THE CUKLYTOPS ADRIFT 

Lucky it was for Trouble that Tod Ev¬ 
erett, the foreman, caught the sound of the 
moving machinery—the creaking of the log 
carriage and the buzz of the big saw that 
was beginning to whine as if hungry to bite 
into the log on which the little boy was 
riding. 

And as soon as Tod heard the sound of 
the machinery he knew something was 
wrong. One reason was because it was not 
yet time to start. Another reason was that 
the engineer of the mill was standing right 
beside him, talking about a new lot of logs 
that had been floated down the river that 
day. 

The two men looked at one another as the 
sound came to their ears, and the foreman 
cried: 

“Who’s running the mill for you, Zeb?” 

“Nobody ,’ 9 answered Zeb White, the en- 
221 


222 The Curly tops in the Woods 


gineer. i 1 She isn’t supposed to be runnin 9 ! 9 9 

“Well, she is running!” declared Tod. 

“I believe you’re right!” cried the engi¬ 
neer. “But who could have started her?” 

Without another word the two men ran 
up the little hill, for they were at the bot¬ 
tom of it and away from the mill, and could 
not look into the place. But when they 
reached the top they could hear the rattle 
of the moving carriage more plainly. They 
could hear the whine and hum of the big 
saw. 

And then they saw Trouble calmly sitting 
astride the log, playing it was his horse, and, 
all the while, drawing nearer and nearer to 
the sharp-toothed saw. 

“Whew!” whistled the foreman. “That 
kid is in mischief again!” 

“Do you reckon he started my engine?” 
cried Zeb. 

Tod Everett did not answer. He sprang 
to catch Trouble off the log, pulling him to 
one side rather roughly in his strong arms. 
At the same time the engineer ran for the 
handle that shut off the power. He pulled 
it quickly, with all his strength, and the saw 
slowly ceased buzzing, while the log on the 
carriage no longer moved forward. 



The Curly tops Adrift 


223 


44 Say, you little tyke!” cried Tod, for he 
was angry, “did you start the machinery?”' 

“Yes, I did start it,” answered Trouble, 
hardly knowing whether to laugh or cry. 
“What for you take me off my horsie?” he 
asked. 

“Horsie? Say, you don’t want to ride 
this dangerous kind of horse again!” cried 
the engineer. “That big saw might have 
cut you!” 

He, too, spoke sternly, and Trouble de¬ 
cided that all fun had gone out of the world. 
He began to cry. He cried hard, too. 

By this time his mother, who had missed 
him, had come out in search of him. It took 
her only a few moments to understand what 
had happened. 

“Trouble, you are a naughty boy!” she 
said. 

“I not naughty!” he sobbed. “I wanted 
a wide—a wide on my saw horsie!” 

“Yes, you were bad,” went on his mother, 
with a grave face. “I told you never to 
come to the mill alone, and you didn’t mind. 
I told you never to touch a handle or any¬ 
thing, and you didn’t mind. You are a bad 
boy!” 

Trouble sobbed again, looked from one to 



224 The Curly tops in the Woods 


the other of the three stern faces in a circle 
about him. 

“Ye—yes, I—I is a had boy!” he ad¬ 
mitted. 

“And you must be whipped,” his mother 
told him. 

I wish I did not have to write about this 
part of it, but I have undertaken to tell 
you all about the Curlytops and Trouble, 
and I must put in the bad with the good. 

Trouble was whipped, and he cried hard. 
But this was better than crying after being 
hurt by the saw, as might have happened. 
And the whipping was the best way in the 
world to make Trouble remember never 
again to go near the machinery alone. 

“I’ll see that he never does such a thing 
again,” said Mrs. Martin. 

“And I’ll never leave the mill alone again, 
with the power ready to be turned on,” said 
the engineer. 

So it all ended more happily than it might 
have, if the machinery had not been stopped 
in time. And though the Curlytops felt sor¬ 
ry for their little brother, it was not as bad 
as it might have been, for which they were 
very thankful. 

As a further punishment, and to make 



The Curly tops Adrift 


225 


him remember not to do such a thing again, 
Trouble was not allowed to go with Teddy 
and Janet the next time they had a picnic 
in the woods. 

They were always having picnics—some¬ 
times two in one day. But they enjoyed the 
tramps in the forest and they had no end 
of fun eating the lunches they begged from 
their father in the camp store. 

This time they went on a picnic the day 
after Trouble had had his “wide,” as he 
called it, on the saw carriage. That is Ted 
and Janet went, and William remained at 
home. He wanted to go, very much, but his 
mother was firm, and though the Curlytops 
felt sad to hear their little brother cry to 
come with them, they were old enough to 
know it was for his own good that he must 
stay at home. 

“What’ll we do?” asked Ted, as he and 
his sister walked through the forest. Ted 
very often left it to Janet to suggest some 
form of fun. 

“Let’s look for the tame crow,” proposed 
the little girl. “I’d like to find him and 
take him back to Mr. Jenk.” 

“So would I,” agreed Ted. “We’d get a 
lot of money then.” 



226 The Curlytops in the Woods 


“And the crow is in these woods/’ went 
on Janet. “I’m sure we saw him that time 
the woodpecker was tapping.” 

“Yes, that was Mr. Jenk’s crow all right,” 
said her brother. “But how can we catch 
him?” 

Janet thought for a minute. Then she 
remembered something that had happened 
back home. 

4 4 Oh, Ted ! 9 9 she cried. 4 4 Cheese! ’ 9 

4 4 Cheese ? What do you mean ? ” he asked. 

“Don’t you remember how fond the Jim 
crow was of cheese?” went on Janet. 
“Whenever he used to get away Mr. Jenk 
would go after him, calling and holding out 
a bit of cheese. And Jim would fly down to 
get the cheese and Mr. Jenk would catch 
him.” 

4 4 Oh, yes! ’ 9 cried Teddy. 4 4 And then he’d 
make believe pull corks. I mean the crow 
would,” he added, though Janet understood. 

44 Let’s go back to daddy’s store and get 
some cheese,” proposed Janet. She called 
it 44 daddy’s store,” though Mr. Martin did 
not own it and had only been engaged to 
start it going. But the children always 
thought of the camp store as they did of 



The Curly tops Adrift 227 

the one in Cresco, as belonging to their 
father. 

“Yes, we’ll make a cheese trap,” agreed 
Ted, 

Mr. Martin was not in the store when they 
trudged back, but one of the clerks gave 
them what they wanted. 

“Don’t eat too much cheese,” he warned 
them. “It isn’t good for Curlytops.” 

“Oh we’re not going to eat it,” said Janet. 

“It’s for the lame, tame crow,” added 
Ted. 

“What in the world are those kiddies up 
to now, I wonder,” said one clerk to another. 
“Talking about a lame, tame crow, and 
taking him out some cheese!” 

“Don’t ask me,” chuckled his companion. 
“They do more things in a day than I could 
think of in a week. And that small chap— 
the one they call Trouble—say, he’s a tyke!” 

“He certainly is. Well, I only hope they 
won’t get sick eating the cheese, and have 
Mr. Martin blame me for giving it to them.” 

However, Ted and Janet had no idea of 
eating the cheese, though they liked a little 
nibble now and then. But this cheese was 
for the lame, tame crow they were sure they 
had seen in the woods. They were quite cer- 



228 The Curly tops in the Woods 


tain it was Mr. Jenk’s black pet and they 
hoped to get the ten dollars reward. 

But the woods at Mount Major and 
around their camp were wide and long, and 
though the children did not know it, hunting 
for a certain crow in them was like looking 
for a needle in the haystack. 

On and on through the woods tramped the 
Curlytops. It was a pleasant day and it was 
early, for they had set off on their picnic 
soon after dinner. They had with them 
some lunch for themselves and the cheese 
for the crow—if they should happen to find 
Jim. 

Every now and then they would stop and 
listen, and often they heard the distant caw¬ 
ing of crows. But this was what happened 
every day in the woods. There were many 
crows. 

“And they all sound alike when they 
caw,” said Ted. 

“Yes, but Jim crow can pop corks, and no 
other crow can do that,” said Janet. “And 
he can stand on one leg in such a funny 
way.” 

“Yes,” admitted her brother, “if we hear 
a cork popping well know it’s Jim.” 

But they heard nothing like this as they 



The Curly tops Adrift 


229 


wandered on through the woods. Some¬ 
times they even caught glimpses of crows 
flying overhead, but these black birds did 
not come down low enough to see the pieces 
of cheese which the Curlytops held out to 
them, hoping that one of the crows might 
be Mr. Jenk’s Jim. 

“Oh, dear!” sighed Janet after a while. 
“I guess well never find that crow. It’s 
like mother’s diamond locket that I lost. I 
guess it’s gone forever.” 

“Maybe the locket is,” agreed Ted. “But 
we’ve seen the crow, so we know he’s some¬ 
where around here.” 

“But where?” asked his sister. 

And Ted could not answer. 

Still they did not give up. They had come 
to the woods to spend the afternoon. They 
could eat about three o’clock when they 
usually got hungry, and they might as well 
hunt for Jim as do anything else or play any 
of their pretend games. 

“I’m tired,” said Janet, after a bit. 
“Let’s sit down and rest.” 

“And eat,” added Teddy. He was nearly 
always ready to do the latter. 

So the children sat down on a mossy log 
in the pleasant shade of the forest and 



230 The Curly tops in the Woods 


opened the little boxes of lunch they had 
obtained in the store. 

“Before we eat we’ll spread out some of 
the cheese,” said Janet. “Maybe Jim will 
smell it and fly down.” 

Teddy thought this would be all right, so 
they put some bits of cheese on a flat stump 
not far from where they sat down to eat 
their own lunch. 

As they ate they kept an anxious watch, 
and also listened closely for any sound of 
cawing in the air overhead. But, for some 
reason or other, the crows, perhaps Jim with 
them, had flown away for the time being. 

“Well, I guess there’s no crow here,” said 
Janet after a while, as she stood up and 
brushed the crumbs from her lap. “Let’s 
go on.” 

“All right,” agreed Ted. “But we’ll 
leave some of the cheese here, and when we 
come back we’ll look again for Jim.” 

“Maybe if we tapped on a tree like the 
woodpecker did, Jim would hear it and come 
to us,” suggested Janet. 

“Maybe,” her brother said. “Let’s try 
it.” 

With sticks the children tapped on trees, 
making a noise as nearly like the sound of a 



The Curly tops Adrift 


231 


woodpecker as they could manage. But this 
brought to them no tame crow, and, indeed, 
no wild one, either. 

‘‘Well, let’s go on,” said Teddy. 

Part of the cheese was left on the flat 
stump where they had spread it as bait. 
The remainder they picked up and took with 
them farther into the woods. They were 
having fun, even if they didn’t find the 
lame, tame crow. 

After a little while the Curlytops came 
to an open place in the forest. Across it 
they saw water gleaming in the sun. 

“Oh, there’s the lake!” cried Ted. “I 
didn’t know it came up this way.” 

The lake was of odd shape, and parts of 
it, like the arms of an octopus, stretched 
out into different parts of the woods. 

“I’m going in wading!” cried Ted. 

“So wifi I!” added Janet. 

They took off their shoes and stockings 
and splashed about in the clean, warm water 
of the lake near shore. Then Ted discovered 
a boat hidden in the bushes on shore. 

‘ ‘ Oh, let’s have a ride! ” he called to Janet. 

“There aren’t any oars,” she objected, as 
Ted pulled the boat out so he could get in. 

*‘That’s nothing,’’ he said. “We can take 



232 The Curlytops in the Woods 


poles and push ourselves around. Come on, 
I’ll be captain! We’ll have lots of fun!” 

Janet was always ready for fun. 

“We must take our shoes and stockings,” 
she said. “If we leave ’em here somebody 
might steal ’em.” 

“Yes, we’ll take ’em in the boat, and the 
lunch, too,” her brother agreed. 

They quickly put their things in the old 
scow, for that is all the boat was, and then, 
having found some poles in the woods, the 
Curlytops pushed out from shore. 

Soon they were adrift, moving slowly 
along the beach, first Ted and then Janet 
pushing with their poles to keep the boat 
moving. It was warm and pleasant out on 
the lake, and the Curlytops thought they 
were having fine fun. 

“Let’s go out a little farther,” proposed 
Ted. 

“I’m afraid,” confessed Janet. 

“Oh, we can easily pole ourselves back,” 
said Ted. 

So they went out a little farther. They 
were more than a hundred feet from shore 
when Janet suddenly gave a cry. 

“What’s the matter?” called Ted. 



The Curly tops Adrift 233 

“I lost my push-pole!” his sister an¬ 
swered. 

“I’ll get it for you,” Ted offered. 

He pushed the boat toward his sister’s 
floating pole, but, in doing so, lost hold of 
his own. 

“Now mine’s gone!” he cried. 

Then the wind suddenly blew, sending the 
boat farther away from the two poles. They 
now had no means of moving the boat unless 
they paddled with their hands. Ted tried 
this, but could not make the craft come any 
nearer the drifting poles. 

“Oh, how far out we are from shore!” 
cried Janet. “Let’s go back, Ted.” 

Ted tried, but it was of no use. The wind 
was blowing them farther and farther out 
into the lake. 



CHAPTER XX 


THE CROW'S NEST 

The Curlytops were frightened at first 
when they found that they were adrift in the 
old boat with neither oars nor poles with 
which to guide themselves back to shore. 
But after the first fright Ted laughed and 
said: 

“We’ll go on a voyage; we have something 
to eat.” 

“How far ’ll we go?” asked Janet, still a 
bit alarmed. 

“Oh, across to the other shore,” and Ted 
pointed to the other side of the lake. It was 
about half a mile away, though once on that 
shore the children might not have been able 
to find a path back. For the shore of the 
lake went winding in and out like the edges 
of a blot of ink when you splatter a drop on 
a sheet of paper. 


234 


The Crow's Nest 


235 


“I wish we could get the poles,’’ mur¬ 
mured Janet. “Then we could push our 
selves back.” 

“I’ll try again,” offered Teddy, and he 
began paddling hard with his hands over the 
side of the boat, endeavoring to send the 
craft back to where the two poles could be 
seen floating. 

But as Teddy paddled with his hands only 
on one side of the boat, it was just the same 
as if he had rowed with one oar. The scow 
began to go around in a circle. 

“It’s like a merry-go-round!” chuckled 
Ted. 

“But you mustn’t do it!” complained 
Janet. “It makes me dizzy to go around like 
that!” 

“Well, you paddle on your side then,” 
suggested Ted. “That’s what we have to do 
—paddle on both sides.” 

This was true; just as when you want a 
boat to go straight you must row with two 
oars, one on each side, and you must pull 
evenly on each oar. 

Putting her shoes and stockings with 
Ted’s, up in the bow of the boat, Janet be¬ 
gan paddling with her hands on one side, 



236 The Curly tops in the Woods 


while her brother paddled on the other side. 
In this way they managed to send the boat 
back a little way, even though the wind was 
blowing in the opposite direction. 

“We’re getting nearer to the poles,” cried 
Teddy. “I think I can reach one now. Stop 
paddling, Janet!” 

She stopped and Teddy leaned over the 
side of the boat. He stretched his hands 
out as far as he could reach, but as soon 
as the paddling stopped the boat began to 
drift back again, blown by the wind. Wider 
and wider became the space between Ted’s 
outstretched hands and the floating poles. 

“Look out!” cried Janet. “You’ll fall 
over!” 

And Ted came very nearly doing this. 
Just in time he leaned back and sat down in 
the bottom of the boat. 

“You can’t get those poles!” sighed Janet. 

“Yes, I can!” declared Teddy. He was 
not a boy to give up easily. He started 
paddling with his hands again, as did Janet. 
Once more they were almost within reach 
of the poles, but the wind blew them back. 

“I—I guess I can’t do it,” Teddy had to 
admit, rather out of breath. 

“Let’s drift over to the other shore, and 



The Crow's Nest 


237 


then we can get out of the boat and walk 
home,” suggested Janet. 

This seemed the best plan to follow. So 
the Curlytops sat in the boat and tried to 
pretend that they were enjoying the voyage 
and having a good time. But, to tell you the 
truth, they were rather worried and fright¬ 
ened. 

The wind was now blowing stronger, but 
the children saw that this would, all the 
more quickly, send them to the opposite 
shore. 

“Let’s eat!” suggested Ted, after a bit. 
“We’ll make believe we’re shipwrecked 
sailors and we’ll eat.” 

“But don’t eat the cheese,” objected 
Janet. “We might find Jim the crow on the 
other shore, and we could catch him with 
some cheese.” 

“All right,” agreed Teddy. He was not 
very fond of cheese anyhow, and he was 
willing that Jim should have it—if they 
could find Jim. 

They were more than half way across the 
little bay, or arm of the lake, and they could 
see that the other shore was a sandy one on 
which to land when, from the woods they 
had left, came a shout. 



238 The Curly tops in the Woods 

“Where you children going with that 
boat?” hailed a man. 

Looking back Janet and Ted saw a 
stranger standing on the shore near the 
place where they had dragged out the craft 
which had been hidden under the bushes. 
The man had a pair of oars in his hand, 
and it was evident that he had come to use 
his boat. He had probably taken the oars 
back home with him, knowing that the boat 
could not be taken far without them. 

“Where you going with my boat?” he 
asked, rather angrily. 

“We didn’t mean to take it away,” Ted 
called back. The talk could plainly be heard, 
as voices carry well over water, you know. 

“Well, what did you take it away for?” 
asked the man, who was a stranger to the 
Curlytops. “That’s my boat. I want to go 
fishing in it and now you have it.” 

“We’d bring it back if we could,” Teddy 
called back. “We’re sorry. We only went 
out a little way but we lost our poles and we 
can’t get back.” 

The man stood there and seemed to be 
thinking for a moment. Then he laughed 
and said: 

“Well, sit quiet and don’t fall out. You’ll 



The Crow's Nest 


239 


be at the other shore soon. Land there and 
make the boat fast. I’ll walk around and 
row you back. Don’t be afraid.” 

The Curlytops felt better after this. They 
watched the man turn back with his oars 
over his shoulder. He was soon lost to sight 
in the bushes. Then Ted and Janet looked 
toward the other shore which was coming 
nearer and nearer. Of course they were 
really coming nearer to the shore, for the 
land did not move. But in the boat it looked 
as though it did. 

The wind blew in puffs, and when one 
stronger than those before it struck the 
boat it blew it well up on the sandy beach. 
Ted jumped out and pulled the boat farther 
up on shore, while Janet remained in it. 

“Now you can get out,” Ted told her. 
44 We’ll stay here until the man walks around 
and rows us back.” 

“He was a good man, wasn’t he?” asked 
Janet, as she handed Ted his shoes and 
stockings. 

“ Yes, ” he agreed. 4 4 He wasn’t very cross 
’cause we took his boat. I didn’t know it 
was anybody’s—hid like that in the bushes.” 

“I didn’t, either,” agreed Janet, as she 
and her brother put on their shoes. 



240 The Curly tops in the Woods 


There was nothing to do until the man 
came, for the Curlytops were on a strange 
shore and did not want to wander away 
and get lost. So they sat down on stones, 
near where Ted had tied the boat to keep 
it from drifting away, and they ate what 
little lunch remained. 

“What ’ll I do with this cheese?” asked 
Ted. “I don’t s’pose we’re going to find 
any crows.” 

“No,” admitted Janet slowly. “But may¬ 
be-” 

Then she stopped suddenly, for in the air 
overhead sounded a loud: 

“Caw! Caw! Caw!” 

“Oh, look!” whispered Janet. 

Fluttering down from the sky was a big, 
black bird. It flew to a low stump of a tree, 
not far from where the children sat, and 
there the crow perched, still cawing. 

In wonder and hope the children watched 
the crow. The bird turned its head from 
side to side, and seemed to be looking about 
for any danger. He appeared to see the 
Curlytops, but did not mind them. 

Then the crow began moving about on the 
edge of the stump, stirring up something 
down in the hollow of it. 




The Crow's Nest 


241 


“Oh, Ted!” cried Janet. “I believe that 
crow has a nest in the stump!” 

“It does look so,” admitted her brother. 

As the two children saw the crow stepping 
about Janet observed something else. Eag¬ 
erly she clutched Ted’s arm and whispered: 

“Ted, that crow is lame, just like Mr. 
Jenk’s!” 

“And he’s tame, too,” said Teddy. “He 
isn’t a bit afraid of us. I’m going to offer 
him some cheese!” He held out a bit in his 
hand to the black bird. ‘ 1 Here, Jim! Jim! ” 
coaxed Teddy. “Here’s cheese for you!” 

“Caw! Caw!” croaked the glossy bird, 
head on one side. It fluttered its wings and 
seemed about to fly toward Teddy to get the 
cheese. 

“Oh, Ted! I’m going to tap like a wood¬ 
pecker!” said Janet. “And you snap your 
fingers. If that’s Jim, the lame, tame crow, 
he’ll stand on one leg and he’ll pull a cork!” 

“We’ll try it!” exclaimed Teddy. 

Janet tapped on a tree near her, using a 
stick to make the sound. Teddy snapped 
his fingers as well as he was able. Instantly 
the crow stopped cawing. It turned its head 
on one side and then, a moment later, stood 



242 The Curly tops in the Woods 


on one leg, thrusting the other—the lame 
one—out from him like a stiff stick. 

44 Look, Teddy! Look! ’ ’ whispered Janet. 

44 Snap! Snap!” went Teddy’s chubby 
fingers. 

44 Pop! Pop!” exploded the crow, like a 
cork coming from a bottle. 

44 Oh, it’s Jim! It’s Mr. Jenk’s lame, 
tame crow, Jim! We’ve found him!” 
shouted Janet in delight. 44 We’ve found 
him!” 

Then, with another hoarse caw, the crow 
flew over and began picking at the cheese 
in Teddy’s hand. 

There was no doubt of it, they had found 
the lame crow. Jim was so tame, and he 
knew the Curlytops so well, that he allowed 
his black feathers to be stroked as he picked 
at the cheese. He seemed to be enjoying 
himself very much. 

44 Now we’ve got him how are we going 
to keep him?” asked Ted. 44 He may fly 
away again.” 

44 You could tie a string to his leg,” sug¬ 
gested J anet. 

44 I will!” decided her brother. He had 
plenty of string in his pocket. Putting the 
cheese down on a log, where Jim could pick 



The Crow's Nest 


243 


at it, Ted soon tied a strong cord around the 
crow’s sound leg. The other end of the cord 
Ted fastened to his waist to have both his 
hands free. 

While he was doing this Janet walked 
over to the low stump where the crow had 
what might be called his nest, though wild 
crows always build in the highest trees they 
can find. Janet looked down in the hollow 
stump. She saw bits of mussel shells, some 
bright pebbles, a lot of hair from the tails 
of horses and a shiny piece of tin. Then 
she saw something else that caused her to 
cry out in wonder. 

“What is it?” asked Teddy, who had tied 
Jim fast to him. 

“Oh, look what I’ve found!” gasped 
Janet. She held up something glittering 
and shiny that dangled to and fro. “It’s 
mother’s diamond locket and chain that 
we were playing house with!” cried Janet. 
“I’ve found mother’s lost locket in Jim 
crow’s nest! Oh, how glad I am!” 

“So am I!” said Teddy, rejoicing with 
his sister. “But how did it get here?” 

“Jim must have flown over to our house 
and picked it up off the box when we ran 



244 The Curly tops in the Woods 


out to see the auto accident,” answered 
J anet. 

And that is exactly how it had happened. 
Of course Jim could not talk and tell about 
it, for he could only pull corks and whistle. 
But from what is known of crows—how 
fond they are of bright things—it could 
easily be guessed what had happened. 

Jim, flying away from Mr. Jenk’s house, 
had seen the glittering locket where Janet 
had left it for a moment as she and her 
brothers hurried out to the street. The crow 
had picked it up and had flown off to the 
woods with it, as they often do with bright 
and shining things that take their fancy. 

Being a tame crow, Jim had made his 
nest in a low stump instead of a high tree, 
and there he had dropped the diamond 
locket, having really no further use for it. 
And there it had been all this while. Jim 
must have liked his new freedom, for he 
did not fly back to Mr. Jenk’s house, though 
very likely the lame crow the children once 
saw was this same Jim. 

“Oh, everything is coming out all right!” 
happily cried Janet, as she looked at the 
diamond ornament. “I’ve found mother’s 



The Crow's Nest 


245 


locket that I thought I’d lost, and we have 
Mr. Jenk’s crow.” 

‘‘We’ll get ten dollars, too,” laughed Ted. 

The man who owned the boat came. He 
was surprised when he heard the children’s 
story, and said he often had known crows 
to fly away with bright things. 

“Well, I’ll have three passengers to row 
back, instead of two,” he said, with a laugh. 
“Where do you live?” he asked the Curly- 
tops. 

“At Mount Major, near the sawmill,” 
they told him. 

“I know where it is,” he said. “I’ll soon 
have you there.” 

A little later when he rowed up to the 
bungalow dock he found Mr. and Mrs. Mar¬ 
tin just beginning to get worried about Ted 
and Janet. 

You can imagine how surprised everyone 
was when the Curlytops came back, not only 
with the missing crow but also the diamond 
locket. 

“I never saw such lucky children!” 
chuckled Tod Everett. 

“Caw! Caw!” croaked the crow, as if of 
the same opinion. Jim did not try to get 
away. He seemed to have had enough of 



246 The Curly tops in the Woods 


freedom. But no chances were taken and 
he was kept fastened by a string until he 
could be sent hack to Mr. Jenk. 

True to his promise, the owner of the 
lame, tame crow paid the ten dollar reward 
to Teddy and Janet. Part of the money was 
given them to spend, and the remainder was 
put in the bank for them. 

“We’ve certainly had a fine summer in 
the woods,” said Mr. Martin, when the time 
came to go hack, for he had the camp store 
in good running order now. 

“It was the best time we ever had!” 
agreed Teddy. 

“And it was exciting, too,” added Janet. 

“I’m glad I have my little diamond locket 
back,” said Mrs. Martin. 

“An’ I glad I got a new fire engine, an’ it 
squirts weal water!” laughed Trouble, for 
Ted and Janet had taken part of their re¬ 
ward money and bought him a new toy. 

So all ended happily. But this is not the 
end of the adventures of the Curlytops, for 
there are more to follow. But, for a while, 
we will bid them good-bye. 


THE ENT) 



THE CURLYTOPS SERIES 


By HOWARD R. GAR1S 
Author of the famous “Bedtime Animal Stories” 

12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors 

Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid 

Stories for children by the best author of 
books for little people. 

1- the CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM 

or Vacation Days in the Country 
A tale of happy vacation days on a farm* 

2. THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND 

or Camping out with Grandpa 
The Curlytops were delighted when grand¬ 
pa took them to camp on Star Island. 

3. THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN 

or Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds 
Winter was a jolly time for the Curlytops, with their skates and 
sleds, on the lakes and hills. 

4. THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK'S RANCH 

or Little Folks on Pony Back 

Out West on their uncle’s ranch they have a wonderful time 
among the cowboys and on pony back. 

5. THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE 

or On the Water with Uncle Ben 
The Curlytops camp out on the shores of a beautiful lake. 

6. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS 

or Uncle Toby's Strange Collection 
When an old uncle leaves them to care for his collection of pets, 
they get up a circus for charity. 

7. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES 

or Jolly Times Through the Holidays 
The children have great times with their uncle’s collection of 
animals. 

8. THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS 

or Fun at the Lumber Camp 
Exciting times in the forest for Curlytops. 

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By MINNIE E. PAULL 


l2mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid . 



Four bright and entertaining stories told 
in Mrs. Pauli’s happiest manner are among 
the best stories ever written for young girls, 
and cannot fail to interest any between the 
ages of eight and fifteen years . 

RUBY AND RUTHY 

Ruby and Ruthie were not old enough to 
go to school, but they certainly were lively 
enough to have many exciting adventures, 
that taught many useful lessons needed to 
be learned by little girls. 


RUBY'S UPS AND DOWNS 

^rThere were troubles enough for a dozen grown-ups, but Ruby 
got ahead of them all, and, in spite of them, became a favorite 
in the lively times at school. 


RUBY AT SCHOOL 

Ruby had many surprises when she went to the impossible place 
she heard called a boarding school, but every experience helpe4 
to make her a stronger-minded girl. 

RUBY'S VACATION 

This volume shows how a little girl improves by having varies 
ties of experience both happy and unhappy, provided she thinks, 
and is able to use her good sense. Ruby lives and learns, y 


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12 mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors 

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Brother and Sister are the youngest of a large 
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to do as the others do, Roddy and Betty some¬ 
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These books will appeal especially to boys 
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1. BROTHER AND SISTER 

Brother and Sister are busy and happy all 
of the time and make friends easily. They 
learn that some children have less of the good things than they and 
set out to help them. 

2. BROTHER AND SISTER’S SCHOOLDAYS 

Brother and Sister attend the Ridgeway public school where 
their little, poor friend Mickey Gaffney is also a pupil. Brother and 
Mickey try to find a missing gem which their teacher loses from her 
ring which gets them into trouble with the janitor. 

3. BROTHER AND SISTER’S HOLIDAYS 

Thanksgiving Day at their grandmother’s house was lots of fun 
for Brother and Sister; also their Christmas time, when they helped 
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Billy Bunny’s uncle, Mr. Lucky Lefthind- 
foot, is the owner of a circus. The big ele¬ 
phant becomes the friend of the little rabbit 
and they have many strange adventures to¬ 
gether. 

2. BILLY BUNNY AND DADDY FOX 

This old robber is on the watch to catch the little rabbit, who 
has to use his wits to escape from the crafty old fox. 

3. BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE BULL FROG 

Uncle Bull Frog sits all day on his log in the Old Mill Pond 
catching flies, and telling Billy Bunny interesting stories. 

4. BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE LUCKY LEFTHINDFOOT 

“Uncle Lucky,” as he is called, because he is very rich, owns a 
Luckymobile, in which he takes Billy Bunny out for a drive almost 
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5. BILLY BUNNY AND ROBBIE REDBREAST 

Billy Bunny gets into trouble with nearly all of his woodland 
neighbors but they make up and become friends again. Robbie 
Redbreast has his troubles but they are only little ones. 

6. BILLY BUNNY AND TIMMIE CHIPMUNK 

Billy Bunny has many adventures with his friends of the field 
and forest. Timmie Chipmunk was often unlucky but he was 
smart enough to escape most of his dangers. 

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The highest ideals of girlhood as advocated 
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form the background for these stories and while 
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A story of the True Tred Troop in a Penn¬ 
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want to see the city, are reclaimed through 
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detail. 

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or Maid Mary's Awakening 

The story of a timid little maid who is afraid to take part in 
other girls’ activities, while working nobly alone for high ideals. 
How she was discovered by the Bellaire Troop and came into her 
own as “Maid Mary” makes a fascinating story. 

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or Peg of Tamarack Hills 

The girls of Bobolink Troop spend their summer on the shores of 
Lake Hocomo. Their discovery of Peg, the mysterious rider, and 
the clearing up of her remarkable adventures afford a vigorous plot. 

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or Nora's Real Vacation 

Nora Blair is the pampered daughter of a frivolous mother. Her 
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THE LINGER-NOT SERIES 


By AGNES MILLER 

12 mo. Cloth . Illustrated. Jacket in full colors 

Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid 


This new series of girls' hooks is in a new 
style of story writing. The interest is in knowing 
the girls and seeing them solve the problems 
that develop their character. Incidentally, a 
great deal of historical information is imparted , 
and a fine atmosphere of responsibility is made 
pleasing and useful to the reader. 

\ 

1. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE MYSTERY HOUSE 

or The Story of Nine Adventurous Girls 

How the Linger-Not girls met and formed their club seems com¬ 
monplace, but this writer makes it fascinating, and how they made 
their club serve a great purpose continues the interest to the end, and 
introduces a new type of girlhood. 

2. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE VALLEY FEUD 

or The Great West Point Chain 

The Linger-Not girls had no thought of becoming mixed up with 
feuds or mysteries, but their habit of being useful soon entangled 
them in some surprising adventures that turned out happily for all, 
and made the valley better because of their visit. 

3. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THEIR GOLDEN QUEST 

or The Log of the Ocean Monarch 

For a club of girls to become involved in a mystery leading back 
into the times of the California gold-rush, seems unnatural until the 
reader sees how it happened, and how the girls helped one of their 
friends to come into her rightful name and inheritance, forms a fine 
story. 

Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue 



CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers 


New York 






















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SEP 3 1930 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


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